


And there he goes, beautiful bastard.

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:20:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 37,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22996840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a ditch-all attempt to escape Lotor's anger, Keith runs off to the nearest night club, finding an unlikely friend within the crowd.They don't seem like the most compatible roommates (they seriously aren't), but with nowhere else for his new friend to go and a freakishly tall, slightly murderous boyfriend after him, Lance decides that it falls to him to help Keith get through this sudden turn of events.Yes, chaos does follow. And chaos is followed by Lance's sudden idea of putting rice noodles on tacos (they're called spaghettacos). Which is followed by more chaos.Trigger Warnings: Fluff, angst, mature language, depression, self-harm, mentions of abuseThe character aren't quite the same. But try it anyways, please
Kudos: 5





	1. Running

Keith POV  
"Get over here!" Lotor screeched at me, hands clenched into fists by his sides. "Get over here, bitch!" He walked purposefully towards me, pulling a knife off the kitchen rack.

"Lotor, getaway," I backed uneasily towards the door, my feet edging slowly until I could feel something solid against my heels. Reaching behind myself, I grabbed the doorknob, twisting it open in one fluid motion, before escaping into the night.

"I will find you, Keith!" Lotor bellowed from the doorway. "I'm coming for you now, you can't outrun me!" I heard him open the car door, slamming it shut and turning on the engine as he began backing out of the driveway. Running for my life, I head over to the bar district of this crappy town. I hurried into the first bar I could find, hiding within the music and the crowd.

Lance POV

I was dancing it up around ten p.m. at my favourite club, Sakura, when a song that I absolutely loved started to play. I quickly made my way across the floor to find my friends, so I could dance with someone.

But Hunk and Pidge were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, watch it, buddy." I turned and saw a beautiful dark-haired boy, wearing ripped skinny jeans to complement a red jacket that brought out his eyes nicely. His legs made up about fifty-five percent of his entire body. He looked like a dancer, but what kind of dance he does was a mystery. We held eye contact for a moment too long, and a bright blush began to dust his cheeks. I felt my own face burn, as my stomach twisted itself into knots. His eyes were a deep, mesmerizing purple that seemingly to pierced into my mind.

"Um, may I have this dance?" I asked, running my tongue over my lips uneasily. He seemed surprised, but his eyes appeared to brighten at the thought as he nodded, taking my hand as we spun into the night.


	2. Night Of My Life

Keith POV

I didn't go out much before I met Lotor, and I practically never go out now, so it's been a while since I've been in a nightclub like this. It's crowded, but the dance floor is huge. There must be at least a hundred people in this building. Perfect. There's no way Lotor can find me amongst all these smelly, moving, probably drunk humans. But then I ran into him.

The boy seemed to be around my age, with beautifully tanned skin and a playful smirk adorning his lips. His blue eyes, as cliche as it must sound, were like a dangerous ocean, and I was a man overboard, drowning in them quickly. I took a breath and stubbornly tried to force down the heat rising to my cheeks and ears, as I subconsciously began to check him out. And lemme just say: damn, boi. He had a slim build, complemented by nicely toned arms. Graceful legs, shown off by a pair of shorts that could've been shorter, for all I cared. For a moment my gaydar was silent, and I was a bit disappointed, but then I read his shirt. Bi The Way, You're Cute. He made eye contact again, and then grabbed my hand and asked in a smooth, strong, yet uneasy voice, "May I have this dance?" Before nervously running his tongue over soft-looking lips.

Surprised, I nodded.

Lance POV

One of the things I loved the most about the Sakura club is the two poles and suspended hoop, placed on the short platform by the dance floor. They were there for anyone to try, free of charge whenever the hired dancers were on break. I lead this amazing, 100/10 boy towards the platform, pushing gently through the crowd. When we made it, there was one guy on a pole, but he seemed to be in his own little world. After a few seconds, he strutted off. When Mullet Man saw the hoop, his eyes lit up. Guess he likes hoop, then.

"Wait, are those there for anyone to try out?!" He asked me excitedly, "Or are they just for employees?"

"They're for anyone willing to try," I answered. "So, um, what's your name?"

He looked away from his examination of the metal hoop. "Keith Kogane," he muttered. My eyes went wide with surprise. "No, the Keith Kogane is here? The famous hoop dancer?!" He blushed at my sudden interest, seeming embarrassed. "Yeah, I just had to... take a break from someone." This didn't seem like a topic he enjoyed. "So, what's your name?"

"The name's Lance McClain."

"Lance," he tested. "I like that name, it suits a pretty face like yours," he responded with an enticing grin, setting my heart to flutter. He walked up to the hoop and draped his body over it. By now, someone had noticed the famed dancer in our midsts, and there was a small crowd forming, but Keith didn't seem to care, a smile painted elegantly onto his lips as he began to spin the hoop around, using flexible leg and core muscles to create a beautiful dance. Quickly paced music began to play, and one of the staff lifted the small dancer higher into the air. I watched, entranced by his movements.

"You going to join me, Lance?" He shouted down, his smile replaced by a playful smirk. "Or should I ask someone else?"

Several people in the still-growing crowd cheered or yelled at this.

I stepped forward and grabbed a pole. "Just a warning," I shouted to my dance partner, "I am not as experienced as you."


	3. Can't Find You!

Keith POV

Lance and I danced for what seemed like hours, the music just kept playing, and more people paused and watched until we had most of the club's attention. I was sweating but continued through with a routine from the last show I put on. There were phones out everywhere. I tense, as a thought comes to me. Lotor is going to see the videos. He hates when people see my shows for free. That makes sense, even to me. I understand that of course, I do! But there's something fun about just performing for, well, fun. And with a new partner. Lance was doing quite well, I looked at him and saw only joy on his face. I smiled and brought our faces closer, lost again in his eyes. The crowd cheered wildly as our lips touched. Then screamed, as the lights suddenly went dark and the music cut out.

"I know you're here, Keith!"

Lotor.

Lance POV

My head swam as I tried to understand what was going on. One moment I had been kissing Keith Kogane, the next the lights were out and a creepy voice was calling his name.

"Keith? Keith where are you?!" I yelled into the crowd, but it was useless. The crowds had swept him away, or maybe he had run. I don't know. All I knew at this moment is that I will find him, and I will protect him.

Keith POV

My heart pounded harshly I ran into the crowd. He is here, how did he find me? Never mind, breathe. Breathe. Breathe. I felt the healing scars on my wrists, I know I can't go back to him. Never. I need to find Lance. Lance can help. But before I could, I felt the crowd be pushed to the side. And there, looming out of the darkness and phone lights, was Lotor.

"Finally I found you, little bird, come on, we're going home." He said, reaching for my arm.

"No. No! Lance, help me!" I shouted into the crowd, searching for the only familiar face here, but the Cuban boy was nowhere near my field of vision.

"Lance? What kind of name is Lance? Whatever, forget about him, Keith." Lotor said, successfully grabbing my arm.

"Lance! Please!" I yelled out again.

"LET GO OF HIM, NOW!" A small, angered bisexual yelled, just before harshly slapping my attacker across the face like a bad bitch. Lotor seemed to be in shock and loosened his hold on my arm enough for me to free myself. I grabbed Lance's hand, ran as fast as I could, and didn't look back.

"Keith, you can't run from me! I have your life!"

Don't stop. Keep running. Don't stop. It's not safe here. Keep running. I need to get out.

"Lance, I need to get out of here. Is there any chance that you could help me?"

"Yeah, my bike is out back, let's go."

"Thanks," I breathed out heavily.

Lance took the lead, heading towards his motorbike, and I could feel tears beginning to slid down my face, as I began to understand how much of my life was about to change forever.


	4. New Home

Lance POV

As I took us through the familiar streets, I could hear Keith's quiet, gasping breaths as he cried into my back.

"It's alright Keith, it's going to be okay." I murmured to him. I could feel him nodding softly against my shoulder blade. I had texted Hunk and Pidge earlier, telling them that I was headed back to my apartment. Despite the situation, I still couldn't help but blush whenever I remembered how he'd looked on the hoop, but that was probably just teenage hormones speaking. Not saying he's unattractive or anything, but really, after what just happened, that is not where my head should be.

As it turns out, the power cut off everywhere, and the streets are jammed. Luckily, I don't live too far away from Sakura, so we arrived at my apartment quickly. I couldn't help but wonder what that man, Lotor, did to Keith to make him this scared. He seemed like a strong guy, who you wouldn't mess want with. In hindsight, bitch slapping him didn't seem like the best idea.

Eventually, we made it 'home' to my apartment building, and I parked my motorbike. I gently grabbed Keith's hand and smiled at him, but his eyes stayed glued to the ground. His tears were still falling, and I could hear him muttering to himself. "...why? I should just die, then my problems would disappear."

No. No, no, no, no.

It was like the world had stopped. All I could hear were my shallow breaths, and the words he kept on saying, and suddenly it felt like I wasn't in my body anymore.

"Keith, look at me," I gently pulled his face up until I could look him in the eyes. I was appalled. As carefully as I could, I ran my thumb over his cheek, but even then he flinched away.

In the dim light of the club, I hadn't been able to see the bruises spotting his face. He shied away and tried to lower his head again, but I held him in place.

"Keith, I don't care if this sounds stupid, but you can't kill yourself. There are people who care about you, I care about you, and I protect the people I care about, so don't even think about offing yourself."

I was honestly terrified. I had only met this person today, but even with what little knowledge I had of him, I just wanted Keith to be happy.

"You can't do that to yourself, there's so much more in the world than this, don't you want to see what's out there?!"

I was openly shouting at him now, trying to make him understand what he was ready to carelessly toss away.

"Your life isn't worth nothing, don't treat yourself like that! I don't care what that bastard told you, and I don't care what you think about yourself! You're an amazing person, with the potential to do something incredible!"

"Please, Keith," I whispered desperately. "At least try to care about your life."

Keith POV

I care about you.

It all seemed to pause, just for a moment. I think I needed to hear those words. For so long, I was just looking for someone who could care about me. Care that I exist. And here's Lance, who I barely even know, telling me I matter. Telling me not only that I should, but that I deserve to exist.

Someone who cares about me.

If someone really can care, then... Maybe there's still hope?

Breathing in and reaching up to rub away my tears, I smile, chuckling softly to myself.

"Wh- Keith, what're you laughing about?!"

"Thank you, Lance. For helping me see. For helping me see that there might still be a chance."

Tackling him into a bear hug, I laughed, feeling free for the first time in a long while. I had no idea when, but I'd begun to cry again. This time, though, I was smiling through the tears.

Eventually, the now surprised Lance hugged me back, and it was one of the most comforting things that had happened to me in a while.

Pulling back from the hug, I looked around us, seeing a poorer side of town than where I live, er, lived. I am never going back. Never.

"And here we are, Mr. Kogane." I was pulled from my thoughts when Lance stopped walking and gestured towards a door, marked by the number 1637. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, ushering me inside.

The apartment had a cozy vibe to it, a warm and welcoming feel. The walls were mostly white, but a touch of navy alongside a few paintings and photographs in the living room, which was currently in front of me, and the kitchen, which was immediate to my right, gave the space a bit more personality. The furniture looked a bit worn out but was overall in pretty good condition. There were a few barstools set up at the counter, which I was guessing acted as a dining table of sorts. There was a hallway connected to the living room, filled with framed photographs and a few doors, two of which were open. One was a bathroom, and the other appeared to be a messy bedroom. A couple of small plants were placed around windows, with open views for sunlight, and one such plant had a name tag on its planter. 'Bruce the Spruce' seemed pretty happy, though.

"So, do you want anything to eat or something to drink?" My host asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Just some water, please. I don't usually have much of an appetite." Lance threw a concerned glance my way but got some water for me, and an apple for himself.

We sat on the barstools in awkward silence for a few minutes, until he spoke up. "So, who was that? He seemed to know you." He looked, worried, at the bruises again, and I pulled up the collar on my jacket to hide them as well as was possible. A quiet sigh escaped my mouth, as I started to explain.

"Yeah, I know him. We live- lived together. He was my coach, then at some point, we started dating. We... Didn't mix well." I could see my vision blurring, as tears built up in my eyes. "I should go. He'll find me, and I don't want to get you in trouble."

"No. You, are staying here," Lance ordered, pulling the jacket's collar away from my neck and running his fingers cautiously over the bruises littering my neck. I winced at the touch, and he pulled away immediately. "Do those need any medical attention?" He asked, his voice far more gentle than Lotor ever was.

Then he noticed my wrists. By the end of the second, he had my right arm carefully in his grasp and was examining it thoroughly. I averted my gaze, avoiding his eyes when he directed them back at my own.

"Keith," he started, "Was this that guy?"

Almost no part of me wanted to tell the truth, the truth is terrifying and cruel. Lotor didn't care enough to use weapons, unless I did something he truly didn't like. All these scars were my doing. It felt like there was no escape, so I made my own.

"Keith, was it?" Lance's voice was laced with panic and concern.

"No."

He let out a breath of relief, and I pulled myself together, preparing to tell him the truth.

"Thank god, I-"

"It was me."

I didn't meet his eyes. Couldn't meet his eyes. I didn't need to see the disappointment I knew was written all over his face. I didn't want to see how he looked at me now. I let my tears fell silently, as I waited for him to start pitying me or talk about therapists.

A moment passed. Then another. I looked up, and I saw two blue eyes meeting mine with the look of sad understanding. He let go of my arm.

"I've been there, don't worry about it," he told me, turning over his own wrist to show three long, faint scars running up his arm. They started just below his wrist, snaking all the way up to his inner elbow before they stopped.

The first was a clean cut, shallow and solid, a very faint line. The second was a little messy, and stood out a little more against his skin. The third was much worse, curving sloppily and angrily to follow veins as well as possible, and much deeper than the others, standing out clearly..

Looking at Lance's scars, I suddenly felt more human. I may have gone to knives and razors for comfort when I had no one, but I'm not the only one. I still have a life, a reason to live, and I can get through this, like I survived Lotor. The cuts told a story, and I needed to read mine. Who knows, maybe Lance would even tell me his?

"Why don't you stay the night? We can figure out a better arrangement tomorrow morning, if you want to."

I could only nod my head.

"Uh, Lance," I started, "Could I borrow, like, a shirt, or something?" I asked sheepishly. "My wardrobe isn't the most... sleep-friendly."

"Sure! I'll go see if I can find some clothes in your size." I winced at the sudden enthusiasm.

Lance left the room, and I heard a shower turn on. Take deep breaths, Keith. Breathe, you idiot. I can't believe he understands. How does this human embodiment of happiness have scars that match the broken feeling inside me?

"Earth to Keith, are you having fun on Mars?" I blinked, realizing rather suddenly that there was a hand in front of my face. "I started a shower for you, and put some clothes on the counter that you can wear," Lance said, coming out of the closet bathroom. I blushed, noticing that he was in those somehow-shorter-shorts I'd imagined him in at the club.

"Um, yeah! I'll go now!" I stated a bit too loudly, bumping into the doorframe on my way out.

"Keith, that's the cupboard. The washrooms' on the other side of the hall."

"Yep, that's right! I knew that!" And so, I walked into another doorway on my way out.

Lance POV

I watched the stumbling celebrity walk into my bathroom (which was surprisingly amusing). The second the door closed, I belly-flopped onto my bed and shrEiKED squealed into the covers. Keith Kogane. Keith fucking Kogane is in my FUCKING shower. I blushed every shade of red known to man as I continued to freak out about the fact that I had just asked a celebrity if he wanted to stay the night. But hot shit, no brain, not like that, chill, stahp it, okay just breathe and stop freaking out like aaaaaaaaaagh okay I'm done for now.

About fifteen minutes later, a now clean raven-haired boy got back from the shower. I looked up from my freak out, checking my phone for the time.

"Oh! Well Keith, it's one in the morning. Would you look at that. We should get some shut-eye. You can have the bed, I'll take the couch."

"What? No! We're in your house, you take the bed."

"Keith. Relax. It's a pull-out bed, the manliest of sleeping arrangements!" I exclaimed dramatically, doing my best impersonation of Thor, and Keith laughed.

I pulled out the couch with Keith's help and set out some blankets, then we waved goodnight and he shut the door of the single bedroom. Not a minute later, I fell asleep .


	5. respect the slippers, biatch

Keith POV.

I lay there, unmoving, in Lance's little twin bed. I stared up at the ceiling of Lance's room, trying to make sense of the last few hours. God, it all just feels so unreal.

This 'Lance McClain' seems alright, though, and I do need to get some sleep. I'll just wait, and we'll see how this works out later.

I was awoken by sunlight, filtering through the blinds I'd forgotten to close the night before. Sitting up, I decided to finally take some time to inspect my surroundings.

Lance's room had a happy vibe, the walls painted a deep, cool blue-grey colour, contrasted by a bright white ceiling. The bedsheets were a lighter grey, also with a bit of a blue hue, decorated by a few pillows that seemed to match the ceiling. The door was to my right, and the bed was placed in the corner of the room, on the wall opposite the closet. Beside the closet, there was a small shelf that seemed to be covered in CDs and old concert tickets, books, and a few scraps of paper.

There were a couple of cork boards around the room, covered in pictures of Lance, and people I (obviously) didn't know, who I was assuming were his friends and family. One of these cork boards was right by the bed, and a photo showed Lance as a small child, laughing on the ground like a dog over him, licking his face affectionately. I chuckled at it, because dogs are just like that sometimes, before checking the time.

"Yeesh, when did it get to be 9:30?"

I found my clothes and started changing back into yesterday's outfit.

However, I tripped halfway into the process of putting on my pants, because...

Is that the start of Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen that I hear?!

So, I hauled ass to get dressed, violently swung the door open and stuck my head out into the hall aggressively to confirm my theory, almost hitting Lance with the door in the process.

"Nice bed head you've got going on there, really frames your face," he told me through a smirk.

And that's when I noticed his feet.

Nodding down at the slippers, I returned the favour.

"Nice blue cat shoes you've got going on there, very manly," I commented sarcastically.

"Hey, respect the blue lion slippers! If you don't, you can't have any of Hunk's cookies!"

"Hm? Who's Hunk?"

"My friend."

"And... The cookies?"

"Apologize to the lions first."

"I'm not apologizing to your slippers."

"Tell then you're sorry!"

"It's a pair of slippers, I'm not apologizing!"

"No cookies for you, then Mr. Mullet."

"Fine. I'm sorry, slippers."

"'Kay, let's go have breakfast then."

"Do I get a cookie after?"

"Only if you don't insult the lions anymore."

"Deal," I decided, already planning more slipper insults for after I got my cookie.

"Anyways," I continued, "How many classic rock CDs do you have?"

"Well, I have no idea," he said with a shrug.

"Hm. I'll count later," I decided. "After breakfast."

"And a cookie?"

"And a cookie."

So, we went for breakfast as I hummed along to A Night at the Opera, by Queen, which was already almost over.

Lance POV

While Keith was asleep, I'd realized I had a craving for omelettes. Then I realized that I have no idea what kind of food Keith even likes, so I waited for him to get up, and eventually just put some music on. It just so happened to be that the first CD in my stereo was A Night at the Opera, by Queen, and just as Bohemian Rhapsody began to play, there'd been sounds of freaking out coming from my room, which meant that Keith was freaking out. So, I went to check, got my slippers insulted, and now I'm back in the kitchen.

"Do you like omelettes?" I asked, wondering if I could get away with not feeding him if he said no.

"Love omelettes. You want me to help you make some?"

"Nah, I got it covered. I put 911 on speed dial."

"Well," Keith started, "I hope there won't be any need for 911, but seriously, how experienced are you at making omelettes?"

"I can only make omelettes, pancakes, bacon, pasta, and Kraft Dinner," I joked.

He didn't catch the joke. It was kinda true though.

"Wait, actually?" He seemed to take it more seriously than I'd imagined. "You've managed to get by on only those things?"

"Hey, I can make pizza, too!"

"Still, that's not very much. Try making butter chicken," he deadpanned.

"How about you stop insulting my cooking skills, and tell me what kind of omelettes you like instead?"

"After hearing about your limited range of culinary skills, I'm thinking that you can make your omelette, and I'll invade your kitchen while you eat."

I shrugged. Didn't sound like a bad arrangement, and I still get to have my omelette.

"Okay, Mullet Man, I'll tell you what's in the cupboards while I make myself some breakfast."

"Sure."

So, I got out the few ingredients I needed and felt Keith's silent judgement the entire time I cooked.

My food turned out pretty well, and I was happy to finally feed my craving.

"So, you have any questions about where to find things?"

"Where're your spices and things? Like, salt, chilli, hot sauce?"

"Uh, well, there are some chilli flakes in the same drawer as the pepper, and the salt's there too. And there should be some hot sauce in the cupboard to the left."

"Thanks, I'll let you eat in peace now," he smirked.

Getting to work, he started moving around the kitchen a lot. Adjusting the heat on the element, collecting ingredients, cracking the eggs, he was all over the place.

Eventually, though, he settled in front of the stove, spatula in hand, and he dramatically flipped his omelette onto a plate.

"This is an omelette," he smirked, showing me his masterpiece.

"Okay, fine, you're better than me at cooking. I'll admit it," I frowned begrudgingly.

He took a seat at the counter and started eating.

"Wait, you actually put ham in it?!"

"Uh, yeah? That's like, the one thing I always put in my omelette."

"Maybe I should just leave you at Hunk's place."

"I'll admit, omelettes are one of the only things I'm really good at making, but my range of culinary skills isn't limited to a broke college student's diet."

"Wha- Hey!" I laughed, "That's not a very nice thing to say to your host!"

He just chuckled along, already shovelling his breakfast into his mouth.

Sorry for the short chapter, this is a filler. Hope to have yet another one done. by the weekend. Also, Fuji wrote most of this chapter, so credit to him.


	6. Cosmo Is Best Boy

Keith POV

After breakfast, I went to fix my hair, before returning to my seat at the counter.

"So, do you have a plan for dealing with your psycho ex?" Lance questioned, looking from the dishes he was washing.

"I don't know, he has all my stuff. Like, clothes, AC/DC albums, my Bach CDs, laptop..." I sighed, sitting at one of the bars stools.

"Do you have a key to your old house? I mean, we could go get some stuff," Lance suggested with a quirky smirk.

I smiled with him. He had a contagious smile, that boy. Then I thought it over. It's Saturday, so Lotor should be at the dance studio. We could probably make it.

"Sure," I confirmed, "Why not, McClain?"

"Why don't you just call me Lance? I think we should be on a first name basis by now."

"Then stop calling me Mullet Man. If we're going to break into Lotor's house, we should be referring to each other by our first names. So, no more Mullet Man, my name is Keith. Keith Kogane." 

Lance POV

Holy fuck.

This is the only reason I hate being bisexual. He's really hot, but I'm definitely not attracted to him. Yeah, it works like that, right?

"So what is Lotor like? I didn't really get a good look at him."

Keith tensed, and I froze, wondering if this was a good subject to bring up. I watched nervously, as he took a breath before speaking.

"Well, he's pretty intimidating, because he's really tall. Like, tall. He's got dark skin, and he's got this thing that I think is called poliosis, which somehow makes his hair white. I'm pretty sure it usually just makes little patches of white hair, but he literally just, like, has white hair. Um, yeah, he's really tall, he's kinda got scary blue eyes-"

He paused for a moment, seeming to think about something.

"You were probably asking about what kind of person he is," he deduced. "Well, he's really manipulative, and almost never does something unless it's in his own interests. He's always out for revenge, has major trust issues, and won't play by any rules but his own. He's definitely a strategist, but he's a lot stronger than he looks, he's reckless and ruthless..." he trailed off.

"Well, doesn't he sound like a great guy."

Keith just gave me this look. A look of No not now, you're an idiot, I will strangle you that was honestly terrifying. If you've never gotten one of those glares from a small person, don't try for one. It's actually more intimidating than should be possible.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Keith let up on the glaring, and I felt myself relax. I hadn't even realized I'd tensed up, but seriously, small people do have to keep all their anger in a smaller container.

"Sorry. Uh, do you still wanna go get your stuff?" I tested.

Keith seemed to consider the idea one final time, before placing his face in his hands and quietly screaming.

"You alright, Keith?"

"Yeah. Just, y'know, breaking into my psychotic ex-boyfriend's house to take all my shit back," he grumbled. "Fuck it. Lance, get your motorcycle, he's probably changed the lock already."

"How are we getting in if he's changed the lock? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to break down someone's door."

"Well, it's a good thing we don't have to break down the door. Worst comes to worst, I'll punch in a window."

I couldn't tell if he was joking. Which was concerning for multiple reasons.

I watched, confused, as Keith pulled out his phone, muttering to himself about how he's gonna get himself killed if Lotor's not at the studio, before grinning as someone answered his call.

"Cosmo, good boy, it's Keith. Okay, Keith needs you to unlock the front door, can you do that for me, Cosmo?"

"Keith, what the fuck are you-" There was a woof from the other end, and I suddenly realized that he was talking to a dog.

"Are you asking a dog to open your door?!" I questioned, understandably surprised.

"Shut up, Lance," he hissed, pulling away from the phone briefly.

"Good boy, Cosmo, Keith will be there soon," he smiled.

As soon as the dog hung up, though, his demeanour changed.

"That is how we are getting in."

"A dog is opening the front door for us...?"

"Correction," he started, irritated, "A wolf is unlocking the front door for me."

I blinked.

"You have... A pet wolf?"

"Cosmo is a friend, not a pet. Get your bike, bitch."


	7. Loiter

Keith POV

I gave Lance directions to the apartment building, and we started our way over. On the way over, I mostly contemplated what I was doing.

Breaking into a human Starbucks venti hot chocolate's house to get my headphones and shirts, I guess. Which is probably the worst description I could think of for 'Taking my stuff out of my ex's house.'

What was I supposed to do about Cosmo? There was no way in hell that I would leave him with Lotor, and I didn't have a permanent place to stay. Sure, Lance would probably let me stay at his place for another night, but a wolf? Probably not.

"So, uh, how long have you been friends with a wolf?" Lance asked, as if he had read my mind.

"Few years, now, I found him when I was working at an old job, and they let me keep him. Not like anyone had a choice, though, he seems to think I'm like, his mom, or his brother. Refused to leave. He actually followed me home, one time. I had no idea what to do."

Lance turned his head slightly to give me a look of confusion. "What kind of job was that? A circus? Maybe an animal trapper or something?"

"More along the lines of a rebellion, or maybe a mafia, but sure, we'll say it was a circus."

I could feel Lance stiffen from where I was behind him, and practically saw the gears turning in his head as he processed what I'd just told him. He was probably thinking something along the lines of 'I just let a possible serial killer or drug lord sleep in my house'. I mean, I'm not really a serial killer, more of an assassin, and we didn't do anything with drugs. Whatever, I'm sure he'll ask about it later, though.

"Is this the place?" Lance asked. He seemed a little unnerved when he looked at me.

"Yeah, I'll go in, and you can stand guard out here."

Lance raised his eyebrows at me, "Yeah, right, as if I would let you go in there alone. Ex-mafia-rebel-person or not, you're probably going to need some help. Besides, you still need to get your stuff out of there, right?"

I tried to communicate my feelings of fuck no through my face, but he held his ground. Sighing, I turned back towards my old home and started towards the doors.

The door was unlocked. I fucking love you, Cosmo. I ran in, and after a quick check to see if Lotor was present I relaxed, slightly.

"So, um, where's the wolf?" Lance asked, sounding clearly concerned.

"Cosmo's a highly intelligent creature, he probably went to stay with my friend Shiro for now. Don't worry, he wouldn't attack you without reason, even if he was here." I wasn't worried about my friend at all, he was smart, and a sneaky little shit.

I made my way to my old room, and began grabbing things, starting with a backpack and things of sentimental value, before moving on to my music and clothes that I hadn't already collected. Walking over to my desk, I placed everything still in my hand into the bag.

I paused when I looked at the desk, however, because a note was sitting right there, beside my headphones. Quickly, my eyes scanned the note.

Hello little bird,

I know you will be reading this, so I decided to return home from the studio early.

I will be home at eleven, just in time for an early lunch.

See you then, Keith!

Lotor

Looking up at the alarm clock on my desk, I immediately panicked.

10:56 AM. Shit.

"Lance!" I shouted, running back towards the door. "Lotor guessed that I'd come back, he's going to be here any minute now!"

"Wait, what?!" He yelled. "Here soon? The fuck, dude, I thought you said he was working today!" 

"Well, he was! I have my stuff, so let's get the hell out!"

We ran out the door, and sprinted our way down the stairs to Lance's bike, praying that we would make it out in time.

Lance had reached the bottom of the stairs, and I was just behind him. We could see the bike, we were almost there, until-

"Going somewhere?" My ex boyfriend asked with a smirk, standing there beside Lance's motorbike.

As I watched Lance walk up to him, I couldn't help but wonder if he was about to get himself killed. Unfortunately, I didn't think that bitch slapping Lotor would work a second time.

"Yes, Loiter, we were going somewhere, and we still are, so, if you could move out of the way, that would be great, you lamppost."

Lotor paused. Then he blinked. Then he frowned.

"It's Lotor, you little shit."

"Hey now, no need to get hypocritical, Loturd!" Lance retorted with a grin.

"Lance," I whispered, "What the actual fuck are you doing?"

And his grin just widened. No response, just a grin. And I could see Lotor starting to get angry, which was concerning for a few reasons, one of which being that Lance was about to need his bones set if he didn't know how to fight back.

Lotor was a lot stronger and faster than he looked, I knew that I would have trouble keeping up with him in a fight. And I was trained in an organized group of criminals, for Christ's sake! Lance would end up hospitalized!

"Look, Lane, or whatever the fuck your name is, if you just give Keith back to me, I won't need to snap your arms off," Lotor growled lowly.

"Okay. I'll admit, I'm a little intimidated. But still, the least you could do is stop talking about my friend, who is still standing right here, like he's an object you own. Because he is not your property, you dry fish."

Lance's insults didn't seem to be the best, but they did seem to get the point across; Lotor wasn't worth his remaining brain cells, or his time.

When you spend time around someone like Lotor, you have to pick up on any little ticks or warnings you can. After spending as much time as I had with him, I knew how to tell when he was about to snap. Lance's insults may not have been very good, but they were enough to annoy him. Lance just kept on talking, which was probably making the situation worse.

I checked for signs of anger. Pinched brow, narrowed eyes, scowl. I checked for signs that he was ready to do something. Hands in fists, raised shoulders, and his footing showed that he was ready to take a swing at us whenever. Lastly, I checked for the sign that he was actually going to try for a hit.

His jaw was clenching and unclenching, and he was grinding his teeth. He would hit any time now.

I kept my eyes on his feet. He wasn't close enough to hit either of us without moving, which meant he would probably step into the swing.

There.

His left foot was moving. Leaning forwards, I moved to deflect the punch he was aiming at Lance.

I caught his wrist in my right hand, but something seemed off. Lotor's left hand wasn't his dominant hand, and his aim wasn't quite as good on his left side. Why would he try to-

"Keith!" Lance shouted, a sense of urgency in his voice.

I turned back to face him, quickly as I could.

"Wha-"

I cried out suddenly, as I found myself being thrown to the ground by a harsh hit to my left arm. I should have seen it coming. Lotor had known I would try to stop the punch. It had been a set up, he threw the punch with his left hand so he could hit me more easily with his right.

"What the fuck, dude!" Was all I heard before there was an unholy screech of anger and pain, and I was being helped back to my feet as Lance practically dragged me back to his bike.

Looking back, I saw Lotor on the ground, curled into a ball.

"Did you seriously just knee his crotch?!" I asked Lance, incredulous.

"Seemed like the easiest way to get away," he replied, starting the engine. "You still have your bag?"

"Yeah, I just hope- Fuck, the pain's kicking in," I replied as Lance pulled out of the parking lot.

"You gonna be alright, Keith?" He asked, worried.

"Let's just get back as fast as possible, I need to put some ice on this."

Lance POV

I had a sense of déjà vu as we sped through the streets, just like last night. It's only been less than twenty-four hours, and thinking about that seemed a bit crazy now. The only things that had changed since the last time we were racing away from Lotor were that we were now friends, and that instead of crying and having an emotional breakdown, Keith was cradling his injured arm and swearing like a sailor every time we went over something.

"You sure you're alright? That hit literally knocked you to the ground."

"Don't worry about it, I'll put some ice on it when we get back to yours. I'm just glad I blocked that first punch. You've done enough for me already, I don't want you getting hurt for me," he reassured me.

I was honestly kinda confused about Keith. First, he was really flirty. Then, he was scared and clearly freaking out. After that, he was just cold, then he made fun of my slippers. Then he was stressed, and just now he was kinda scary. Catching Lotor's punch? Yeah, I'm a bit intimidated. Now he's being cold again, and I don't know what I should do.

Once we were back at my apartment, I checked on Keith again. He seemed to be doing alright with his arm, but his bag didn't look like it had very much stuff. The bag he had was just a backpack, and it looked he had probably used when he was in school.

"So, you got all your stuff? That seems like a small bag."

"I didn't need everything in the room. I just grabbed a few changes of clothes, my wallet, phone, laptop, my chargers, and CDs. I just need a place to stay."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Keith. Mr. Kogane. My dude. How many times am I going to have to tell you that you can stay at my place? If it makes you feel better about it, you can stay on the pull out bed. Also, you're good at making food."

He chuckled at my last comment before starting his way up the stairs. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and pulled it out to find a message from Pidge.

hey dumbass

me n hunk r coming over to meet keef

*keith

c u in ten

I sighed, shaking my head at her bluntness. Keith noticed that I hadn't followed him, and, from over the railing a couple floors up, asked, "Something up, Lance?"

"My friend, Pidge, has invited herself over, and has roped Hunk into her plan. That alright with you?"

"What kind of name is Pidge?" Was all I got back.

"It's a nickname," I explained.

"Well, that sounds like it could be a fun story. Anyways, is this the same Hunk who made those cookies?" He asked, hopeful.

Damned bastard ate all my cookies while I wasn't looking.

"Yeah, same Hunk, but if he brings cookies," I looked at him sternly, "You are not going to eat them all this time."

"Fine, be that way. Just let me in to your apartment, I want raid your ice trays."

"Just go sit on the couch, I'll get you a towel and an ice pack," I told him, unlocking the door.

"Why a towel...?"

"So you don't burn your skin. Don't you usually do that?"

"Oh. Hm. No, not usually," he frowned, thinking. "Why didn't I ever think of that? I've gotten ice burns before, why didn't I research ways to prevent them?"

"Just go sit on the couch, I'll help you with the ice pack. You don't need to get any burn scars."

"I already have a scar from an ice burn, because for some stupid reason, no one even told me that they're a thing! I thought that maybe I'd eaten pot brownies somehow, and ended up putting my arm on a stove top or something!"

I was standing behind the couch, just... Looking at him. Blinking. Processing his story.

"You... Got an ice burn and thought it was because of pot brownies...?" I asked, confused.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds a lot more stupid, but seriou- FUCK!"

He cut himself off by talking with his hands, which resulted in his arm smacking the cushions.

"Fucking hell, that hurts like a shitty little bitch..." he mumbled, gently holding his bicep where Lotor had hit him.

"C'mon, shed the jacket and take the ice pack, I'm going to get myself a glass of water."

He paused for a second, still uncomfortable in short sleeves or low collars. It was the only thing that hid the scars and bruises on his arms and neck, so he didn't like going anywhere without it. When he did slip out of his jacket, I had to resist the urge to check on his bruises again, knowing it would just make him want the jacket back on.

"Thanks, is there somewhere I can charge my phone?" He asked, relieving me of the cold little towel ball.

"Yeah, you can unplug the lamp, the black cord, but you're gonna have to use your charger."

"Okay, I'm just going to see if I can contact Shiro."

I threw a ball of paper at him.

"Why did you throw a ball of paper at me?"

"Wifi, I figured that you might need internet to contact your friend."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

I waited for a moment, a small grin on my lips, and waited for his reaction.

"Why did you name your network 'Click For Viruses'?" He asked, deadpan.

"Have you ever heard of a joke?"

"Yeah, want me to tell you one?"

"Sure."

"Lance McClain."

"You're in my house, don't make me regret that more than I do, you cookie thief."

He rolled his eyes at me. Again.

Jeez, why does he roll his eyes so much? Is he looking for his brain, or something?

Keith seemed to be doing alright, so I headed into the bathroom to fix my helmet hair, now that I was off my bike.

A few minutes later, I came back to the living room to find that Keith was not doing quite as alright. He was hiding his face in his hands, and it looked like he was shaking.

"Keith, are you okay? Did something happen?"

He looked up from his hands, still a little out of it.

"Sorry, I'm fine. I just got a text from Lotor, is all. Kinda threw me off, a bit."

I guess that was to be expected. We did just break into his house by calling a wolf, before reclaiming a bunch of Keith's belongings, and I did kind of insult him and knee him in the nuts...

Then, there was a sudden, loud banging at the door. We both jumped, immediately on edge, especially after what just happened.


	8. KNOCK KNOCK BITCHES

Lance POV  
"DING DONG, MOTHERFUCKERS!" Pidge screeched as she let herself in. Hunk followed soon afterwards (much more peacefully) with a backpack, and a plastic bag that I thought might be full of cookies.

"Now then," Pidge continued, "Which one of you little shits told Matt about the spare house key under my plant? He dumped a bucket of water and ice on me this morning at five thirty, which he's already paid for, and someone needs to pay for helping him get in."

"Oh, hey, speaking of breaking into people's houses, Keith, how did you call your wolf friend?" I asked, joining him in not-the-hallway.

"Landline."

"You called a wolf. On a landline. And told the wolf to unlock the front door of your ex boyfriend's apartment. And the wolf actually did."

"Is there a problem with that, Lance?"

"Nah, it's fine, I was just-"

"Well, what did we miss, Lance?" Pidge asked.  
I looked over to Keith, silently asking if I could tell them, as I sat down on my beanbag chair with my glass of water.

"We broke into a human Starbucks venti hot chocolate's house to get my headphones and CDs back," Keith stated, completely serious and deadpan.

Hunk's face expressed just one thing in that moment: What is this crazy, smol emo mullet-child talking about?

"What...?" Pidge questioned, a bit confused.  
"He looks like a human Starbucks venti hot chocolate, so that's what I'm calling him from now on," he explained. All he got was empty stares.

"Y'know, his skin matches the colour of the hot chocolate, and his hair is white, like the whipped cream!" He paused for a moment. "Wait. They do still put whipped cream on on the hot chocolate, right?"

"Keith, I just met you, but I'm concerned about the fact that you had to ask that question," Pidge responded.

I think these two are going to get along a bit too well.

Hunk and Pidge decided to go to the kitchen first, and it seemed like Hunk had brought some stuff for dinner, too, so they had only really seen the back of Keith's head, and maybe about half of the right side of his face, when he had turned to explain his joke about Loturd. Sorry, Lotor.

When Hunk and Pidge did make their way to the couch, however, Hunk turned into The Mom Friend™.

"Keith, what happened? Is your face alright? What happened to your arm?" He really could be a mother hen sometimes.

Keith seemed rather uncomfortable with all the sudden attention, especially with what the attention was focused on.

"Don't worry, Hunk, he's already doing better than we would've if he didn't have me looking after him." I sent an apologetic smile towards Keith, and, although he was relieved to not have Hunk fussing over him anymore, he seemed unsure about my strategy of distraction.

"Oh? How many interesting stories are we going to get out of your new friend, Lance?" Pidge raised her eyebrows in question.

"Well, have you ever met anyone who wasn't aware that you can prevent ice burns by putting a towel over he ice pack?" I grinned.

I just got a sarcastic look from Pidge. "My brother. He burned himself three times before asking if there's a way to prevent it. And he's a science major."

"Wait," Hunk panicked, "You didn't know about ice burns?!"

"Um, well, I did kind of?" When Keith said that, it sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Why don't you tell them about your burn scar?" I prompted.

"Which one, bitch?" He retorted with a scowl.

"The ice- Wait, what?"

"I tried to pick up the stove element when I was two. There's, um, there's a little scar on my finger, it wasn't on for long."

Once again, I just kinda... Stared at him for a moment. He had some strange stories about burns. He was definitely a bit out of his comfort zone, talking to people about his life.

"Um, yeah," Keith hesitated to continue, but he did end up telling us the story.

"I didn't realize that it was possible to burn myself with ice, so I just switched out different ice packs whenever they got warm, for about an hour and a half..." He began, "The next day, I realized that the injury had not improved, and was now covered with a burn. Well, I mean, the injury did improve a bit, but there was a new injury over it. I thought someone had drugged my food or something, and I'd put my arm on the stove without realizing.

"Now I have a scar, and it took me over a week to realize that, no, I had not been high and burned my arm, it was the ice."

Pidge was trying not to laugh, Hunk was grinning as he handed out cookies, and I was wondering how Keith had survived until now.

"Okay, so you're saying that you burned your arm on an ice pack, and thought it was because of pot brownies or something?!" Trying not to laugh wasn't going too well for Pidge. I couldn't help but grin at the story, and even Hunk was chuckling a bit.

"What is it with you people and the pot brownies?! It's not that funny, seriously!" Keith shouted, turning his right arm at an awkward angle, so his thumb was facing the floor.

"Is that the scar?" Hunk asked, pointing out the red mark that stood out against the side of his forearm.

"Yeah, and that other scar running through it is what I was icing."

There was a large area where the skin was discoloured, but mostly seemed to be doing well, and cutting right through and over was a white line, similar to the ones across my left wrist.

"Disaster Child gets another cookie," Hunk announced, handing one of the snacks to Keith.

"Thanks! These are great!" He smiled.

I couldn't help but laugh at his sudden change in mood, all caused by a cookie. Damn it, he could be adorable sometimes. I really do love my friends, how did I get so lucky?

"Oh, is Lancey-Boy blushing?" Pidge teased.

"Wha- No! Of course not! Why would I blush?!" My face was getting warmer with every word, as I continued to embarrass myself further.

"Ooh, Lance, you got someone on your mind?" Hunk joined in on the joke, as he and Pidge made brief eye contact, communicating some sort of evil plan.

"I don't know what you two are planning, but I don't like it," I announced.

Keith readjusted the ice pack on his arm and laughed at my misery. He seemed like he was planning on jumping on board with the joke.

"Does he have distress sirens, or does he just turn red?" Keith asked, a sly smirk on his lips.

"I am bi and ready to die," I muttered, burying my flushed face in my hands, trying to calm the red colour that was now spreading to my ears and the back of my neck.

"So he does have a Bisexual Distress siren!"

"Oh god, no, don't start on the gay jokes! We're gonna be here for days!" Pidge snickered, laughing at me as I expressed my pain by jokingly screaming into my hands.

"Please, remind me, why do I hang out with you people?" I asked, still red.

"We're your friends, and you love us," Hunk reported, giving me another cookie.

"Thank you, mom."

"If Hunk is your mother, is Pidge your dad?"

"Keith. Shut up. Please," I mumbled through my mouthful of cookie, trying to force down what remained of my blush.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, son!" Pidge ordered loudly. "As your father, it is my duty to make sure you aren't totally hopeless, which is a difficult enough task without you constantly misbehaving."

"C'mon, Pidge, let him be miserable for another minute or so before being a responsible parent," Hunk advised.

"So, um, now that I've told you my embarrassing story about confusing an ice burn for a cooking accident," Keith tested, not really used to asking about these kinds of things, "Pidge, can you think of any good stories about Lance?"

I just looked up in horror. Pidge knew a lot of 'good stories', but they all usually follow a general timeline of Watch this! Oops, that didn't work. Pidge had been the cause of a few... Incidents.

When Pidge looked at Keith with that scheming grin, I was prepared for the worst. Yeah, those two are going to get along way too well.


	9. Story Three

Keith POV

When I asked Pidge if she had any funny stories about Lance, I had no idea what to expect, but she seems like the type who loves to make their friends flustered.

"Pick a number from one to five." Lance's head shot up with a look of terror.

"Um, three, I guess." I took the ice pack off my arm, it wasn't really doing much anymore.

Hunk and Pidge grinned when they heard my choice of number, and Lance immediately got off his beanbag chair, which Pidge immediately moved to claim.

"You done with that ice pack, Keith?" He inquired, trying to find an excuse to get away from the story.

"Yeah, thanks, Lance," I said, returning it to him.

"Um, I'll just go put this back in the freezer, and I'm going to go get my slippers and refill my water!"

"We all know you just don't want to listen to the story again, Lance," Pidge called after him, as he turned to leave.

"Shut up, Katie!"

"Who's Katie...?" I asked, unsure.

"That's Pidge's real name, but no one really uses it these days. Her brother and the rest of her family still say Katie, but usually it's just them," Hunk explained.

"Anyways, how about we stop talking about my name, and talk about how much of an idiot Lance can be?" Pidge proposed.

"Is there some sort of joke about the number three that I don't understand...?" I questioned.

"There's a system for when we need embarrassing stories about each other, and we've all got it memorized. Everyone has their best stories numbered from one to five, in no particular order, and Lance has a really unfortunate story for number three," Hunk explained. "Pidge is the best at capturing the stupidity of the situation, so she can tell you."

"Okay, in order for you to understand this story, you need to know that this is my brother. His hair isn't as long now, but this is what he looked like when this happened."

Pidge showed me a photo of a young man who looked a terrifying lot like her, if she were a boy and had longer hair.

His eyes were almost exactly the same brown as Pidge's, and their face shapes looked almost identical. The main difference was probably the scar on the left side of his face. His sandy hair (which was the same colour as Pidge's) was pulled back into a short ponytail. For a moment, I couldn't help but wonder if the siblings had just traded hairstyles from their childhoods. He seemed a bit familiar, almost like I'd met him before.

"I basically look like he did in grade nine, and he had the same haircut as I did when I was eight," Pidge jokes.

"Okay, I have no idea where this story is going," I admitted.

"You'll see," Hunk reassured me.

"So, at the time of this story, our parents were in Italy, which meant I was taking care of our dog, Bae Bae, who had a vet's appointment when Lance decided to come over, and that's the setting," Pidge said. "But somehow, towards the end of the story, I found my brother being tackled to the ground by a dog, baseball bat in hand, and Lance in a dress."

"Well, that escalated quickly," I observed.

"Apparently the entire reason for this was that Lance broke his laptop, so he was going to ask me if I could fix it. Turns out, Matt was also stopping by, because he had just gotten back from university, but neither of them told me they were going to be there.

"Lance gets there about an hour before Matthew, but he's got a spare key for the house, so he's just in the house for that entire hour, and was planning on staying until I got back. While there, he decided it would be a great idea to set up a prank, and puts plastic wrap across the front door, which will be important later. Now with a really bad prank in place, he didn't stop to think about the fact that I wouldn't have even noticed it, because the plastic was higher than my head.

"So, Lance figures he may as well raid my pantry, fucking eats all my Doritos, and goes to sit in my room, before stupidly deciding to try on some of my dresses. In case you didn't notice, he's a lot taller than I am, and that means that the dresses that usually goes to about, I'd say mid-calf on me, comes down to just above the lanky fucker's knees. Apparently it was comfortable, because he kept trying on dresses for about twenty minutes, before deciding on one.

"At this point, he figures it would be fun to try being a drag queen, and starts playing mainstream pop songs by female singers, dancing around my room, and singing out of key. About fifteen minutes later, my brother runs face first into the cellophane when he opens the door, and bruises his head by falling on his back. Matt's already confused, and he just got there. Who am I kidding, there was Taylor Swift playing in our house, of course he was confused.

He thought I had put the plastic wrap up, since I knew he had finished finals, and gets a water gun before going into my room. This is about when I start walking home.

"Matt, now with a water gun, goes up to my room to find Lance, who he has never met before, dancing around my room, singing to Beyoncé, in beaten up sneakers and a sparkly blue dress Hunk got me as a gag gift for my birthday a month earlier. Since he has no idea who Lance is, he sneaks off again to get his old baseball bat."

"Wait," I asked, trying to stop laughing, "Lance actually decided to wear your sparkly blue dress?!"

"We have photographic evidence, he can't deny it," Hunk confirmed.

"He looked like Cinderella, if Cinderella had been a stick-like Cuban teenage boy in 2018. Anyways, at this point, Matt, who has his baseball bat and a full water gun, bursts into the room as Lance is singing Lemonade, and starts screeching at him to explain why the hell he's in his little sister's room.

"Apparently I forgot to tell Lance that I have a brother, and he thought it was me who was waving a water gun and a baseball bat around like a lunatic. He asked Matt, who had gotten a concussion from Lance's plastic wrap plan gone wrong, if he could fix his laptop. Eventually, Lance realized that he actually didn't know the person in front of him, and Matt threatened to hit him if he didn't explain what he was doing there.

"For some reason, Lance thought it was a great idea to start flirting with my brother, because he thought Matthew was a pretty lady for some reason. Matt was still confused, and apparently, since he didn't realize that Lance was flirting with him, started hallucinating, and thought there was a creepy old lady in there too, which lead to him yelling at the hallucination in Italian. I'm really not sure how that works, but it was funny.

"This, of course, is when Bae Bae and I get home."

"The dog smells people, races up to my room, and tackles my concussed brother to the ground. I get up there to find Matt yelling at nothing in Italian while being licked to death by our dog, and Lance shrieking in confusion, still in a dress, as Trouble by Taylor Swift blasts in the background. Needless to say, the first thing I did was take pictures, then a video, because Lance's screeching was pretty much that screaming goat meme.

"After that, I questioned what they were doing there, realized Matthew needed some sort of medical attention, and made Lance drive us to the hospital. So, we try to get Matt to the car, but he refused to let go of the water gun, saying something about how 'The fairies are coming for us,' and kept on shooting at Lance. Matt calls him Fairy Boy now, because he thought he was the fairy queen, or some shit like that.

"Lance and I are like, 'Whatever, he's got a head injury, he'll be fine.' So, we make it to the hospital, and realize that we've got a seventeen year old boy in a sparkly dress, a fifteen year old girl with a backpack full of dog food, and a hallucinating young man with a concussion who won't stop talking about how we're all going to die, and refuses to let go of his water gun.

"We turned around. Literally, we just went NOPE, and turned around. We ended up going to of Matt's friends for help. So, about fifteen minutes later, we pull up to Shiro's door, and he just looks at us through the window for a few minutes before coming down to help us. Lance refuses to leave the car in his dress- Yes, it is his now, but still flirts with the guy when he comes to drag Matt out of the car.

"Eventually, Shiro manages to get Matt back to a stable condition, and is politely asking us what the fuck just happened, when we hear something outside.

"We look out the window, and Lance has the car in a no parking zone, and was being ticketed in a sparkly, blue, spaghetti-strap dress that only goes to his knees for the whole street to see. I just sat in the window and videoed it. We did go down and help him eventually, but that was when we visited the station to get him out of holding, where he was sitting and muttering the lyrics to Taylor Swift songs, because he had gotten an entire album stuck in his head.

"And that, Keith, is Story Three!" Pidge finished dramatically.

I clapped my hands slowly, laughing hysterically, watching Lance re-emerge from the hallway with a flushed face.

Yeah, I think I like these people.


	10. No, I don't speak backwards

Lance POV

Well, that was not fun to listen to. Again. Why did we make that system? All of the stories are extremely embarrassing! Especially mine! Then again, that is kinda the point...

Whatever, I'll deal with the misery.

I checked the time, noting that it was almost 12:00, which would explain why I was getting hungry.

"Anyone else wants food right now?" I asked, hoping to distract everyone from my still red face. "'Cause I could make something if you want..."

To my surprise, Keith and Hunk got up at the same time, sliding past me into the small kitchen.

Keith smirked, saying, "Yeah, I am hungry. I'm thinking something with a good spice. Would you be down for butter chicken, Hunk?"

"Sounds good to me," Hunk smiled, leaving the kitchen to go raid my pantry for tomato sauce, Keith got a pot out.

"Well, I'm going to stay out of your way. Pidge how are you doing?"

"Trying to deal with Matt, who doesn't know how to deal with his boyfriend complimenting him," she told me, looking at the screen of her phone, clearly unamused.

Well, that's new.

"So, he and..." I trailed off, not knowing how to pronounce his name.

"Shiro, yeah. They've been dating for a month now, and I have to deal with my brother failing at flirting all the time. It reminds me of someone I know, Lance."

"Shut up Pidge, it's not as if you can do any better."

Keith poked his head out of the kitchen. "Did I hear someone say, Shiro? As in Shirogane? Shirogane Takashi?"

"Well," Pidge started, "I'm pretty sure it's Takashi Shirogane because Takashi is his first name, but I guess so."

"Sorry, he made me learn Japanese, so I always say it backwards like that. How do you know him?"

"Are you supposed to talk backwards in Japanese?" I asked, very much confused.

"No, it's just that when you say someone's name, you always put their family name first, whereas in English you would put their given name first," Keith explained.

"Keith, are you planning on burning your curry, or should I turn down the heat?!" Hunk shouted from the kitchen.

"Well, fuck," Keith cursed, returning to the stove. I slid up to the door frame to continue our conversation.

"So... You aren't Japanese?"

He glared at me. "Lance, just because I didn't speak Japanese before Shiro taught me, that doesn't change my ancestry. I lived in Japan with my parents when I was young, but they-" he paused not seeming to know what to say. "They died, so I bounced around in foster care for a while, and eventually the Shirogane family adopted me. When we moved to America, I was about six and ended up forgetting how to speak the language. But Takashi made me learn again, and here I am, with a last name that people don't know how to say, and a cheesy backstory that sounds like it was written by a fourth grader. Sorry, none of you asked for that. Here, have my childhood problems, because I'm sure you all need those."

It was so quiet I could hear whatever was on the stove sizzling from the hall. Hunk gave Keith a hug, and Pidge looked up from her phone with an unreadable look on her face. Keith focused on the food he was making, trying to avoid the awkward situation he had created for himself, as I tried to see if he was doing alright after sharing so much personal information with people he didn't know well.

"So, that means my brother is dating your adopted brother, right?" Pidge asked.

"Sounds like it, as he told you anything about his past? He had it pretty rough, but that's not my story to tell."

"Well then. He did mention a brother sometimes, and at one point I think I heard him having a heart-to-heart with Matt about how his little brother was being abused, and he couldn't do anything about it. Never mentioned a brother again, after that," Pidge said.

I saw Keith tense, but I didn't want to bring up the subject at all.

"So, you guys wanna eat now?"


	11. Thou Shall Not Use A Fork

Keith POV

I checked the time. 7:00 pm.

"Yo, Lance, you wanna go get some dinner?"

"What?" He asked, looking up from his book. I tried to see what book he was reading, but it seemed to be in Spanish. "Food? I'm down for food."

"Great, I'll just grab my jacket, and we'll go. Is sushi alright?"

He looked at me sheepishly. "I've actually never had sushi."

"Lance, please tell me that's a joke."

He shook his head, and I just grabbed him by the back of his shirt, dragging him over to the door.

"Keith? Uh, Keith? Hey, Mullet Man, chill!"

"No, you have to try sushi. It's literally one of the most common types of food to find in a city, how have you never been for sushi?"

He shook his head and continued to follow me towards our main mode of transport: Lance's blue motorcycle.

I gave Lance directions as we went along, and, after a few minutes of driving (not recklessly this time), we arrived at one of my favourite Japanese restaurants, Kuroi Ryū. The Black Dragon. I pulled Lance in, greeting one of the waiters, Hayashi, as I walked in.

"Konbanwa, Hayashi-san!" I smiled. "It's been a while, how you been?"

"Keith! Where've you been? Also, Shiro's been here more than you for the past month, you owe me ten, American," Hayashi grinned back.

Muttering to myself, I pulled a green Alexander Hamilton out of my pocket, questioning our random bet.

"So, you want your usual table?" He asked, taking the money.

"Yeah. My friend here, Lance, hasn't ever had sushi," I explained.

"Hoboy. Well, Lance, if it's your first time trying Japanese food, my advice would be 'leave the prawn tails.' I know that Keith always gets the Ebi Tempura, and he always eats the tails, but seriously dude, it's a weird texture," Hayashi stated seriously.

"Um... Thanks?" Lance said, confused. He probably didn't know what ebi means, or what tempura is. Now that I'm thinking about it, it is possible that he couldn't quite understand the accent.

Hayashi takes us to my usual table, and I ordered some green tea for us. Lance looks extremely confused as he reads the menu. "Lance, I can order for you."

He looks relieved. "Thanks, it's been a while since I've had seafood. Since when did the names get so confusing? Like what is, toh-maah-go?"

I shook my head for what seemed to be the hundredth time this night, looking at the menu. It would seem that Lance had found the Tamago.

"Lance, that is literally not even seafood. It's pronounced 'taa-maa-goe,' and it means 'egg'."

"Oh, okay. Never mind then."

A new server who I didn't recognize came to our table and I ordered our food in my first language, watching as her face lit up when she realized I knew her native tongue. I couldn't stop smiling, excited to have the food I'd been on a forced withdrawal from. Lotor wasn't a fish person, and wouldn't let me get sushi. He really was a bitch.

"Hey! Earth to Keith! The food is here."

I blinked, looking away from the wall I'd been staring at to find Lance struggling with chopsticks.

He can struggle for a minute, I want to eat my fucking food.

He watched in confusion as I snatched a takoyaki off my plate, munching happily on my ball of deep-fried octopus.

"How are you so good at this?" Lance asked, studying the way I held the chopsticks as if it would answer every question he ever had.

"I don't really feel like trying to teach you right now, so, here. Have a piece." I picked up a piece of seafood gyoza and brought it to his lips. Blushing, he opened his mouth and took the food from the wooden chopsticks. His eyes widened as he chewed, and I couldn't help but smirk.

"See what you were missing out on? Now, it's your turn to use the chopsticks. Hold them like this."

It was a painfully slow process, but I did manage to teach Lance how to use the chopsticks well enough to actually eat.

"So, Keith," he started, carefully picking up some chicken karaage, "How did you get this good at using chopsticks?"

"I used to complain a lot, because I couldn't pick up food, so Shiro would hide all the spoons before I got up for breakfast. It's hard to not get better at using chopsticks when your brother takes away the option of eating Cheerios with spoons or forks, and knives don't work with cereal."

We ended up getting some green tea ice cream, because, well, green tea ice cream. Lance was happy to get a spoon for our dessert.

Lance POV

Holy crap, that was good. I wonder if Keith knows how to make any of that stuff?

"So, you enjoyed the food?"

"Yeah! I'll have to take you out for traditional Cuban food sometime, something like arroz con pollo. I'm pretty sure that's less common than sushi," I said as we pulled up to the apartment building. I noticed the sun sinking in the sky, the clouds set up for a perfect show of colours.

"Hey, Keith, there's a park just around the corner where we could go watch the sunset, would you be interested?"

He glanced up at the sky, surprised by the suggestion. "Sure, why not?"

Grabbing his arm, I pulled him towards Altea Park, just beside the apartment building. We wandered around for a bit, waiting for the sun to drift down to the horizon, and found a bench, set under an old willow tree growing by a creek.

As I was about to sit on the bench, Keith threw himself at the lowest branch in the tree, pulling his body up with the ease of a particularly nimble cat.

"Are we monkeys now?" I joked.

"It'll be easier to see from up here, there's a gap in the leaves on this side," he explained, grabbing on to the next branch in his path.

Chuckling under my breath, I followed him up the willow by the creek.

After about four branches, Keith darted out on a bough, two wide branches forking off of it, sitting himself down at the point where the second branch started growing.

"C'mon, there's a really clear view of the sunset, and these branches are really sturdy."

I joined Keith on the bough, sitting at the first fork. The sky was beautiful. The sun casting a gentle orange glow on the horizon before fading to the familiar pastel blue, the few clouds lazily rolling by shaded with a soft pink, all pulled together by the bright greens and blues of the trees on the far side of the park. From where we were in the tree, everything was framed perfectly by the gap in the leaves of the willows.

Looking over at the mysterious man I'd taken in, I was once again surprised by the beauty of the sunset, this time because of the way it reflected in Keith's eyes. The colours in the sky turned into another galaxy when set against the deep, hypnotic purple hue of his eyes.

"Thanks again for the sushi," I said, shaking him from his trance.

"It was nothing, it's the least I could do after you let me stay at yours, even though you know practically nothing about me."

"I know you're a good person. I can see it in your eyes."

And those when eyes met mine, I could see a debate going on behind them. Eventually, he sighed and looked back to the sky.

"I didn't didn't explain very much about my past, did I? I mean, how did I go from a little kid to a professional dancer in ten years?"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Keith."

"Nah. I want to talk about it, it feels good to talk."

He took a deep breath and started.


	12. Because Dolphins

Lance POV

"I saw your confusion when I talked about my time in the revolution, and you deserve an explanation. Well, I guess... After my parents died, I wanted revenge on the people that killed them." He paused, shifting his legs into a more comfortable position. "You see, Takashi was always one for play fighting and ninjas as a kid, so he went into martial arts lessons, kickboxing, and things like that.

"Eventually, he taught me some self-defence basics, and I started practicing with him, learning whatever I could. Takashi ended up getting into fights with kids at school, and he managed to catch the attention of one of the gangs in the area, Voltron.

"There were a couple of kids at our school in the gang, and they always kept an eye out for potential members. The only way to get into the gang was- well, still is, but, whatever. The only way in is to beat a member of the gang in hand-to-hand combat. So, Shiro rose quickly to higher ranks. The gang world is kinda confusing, I mean, there used to be a huge gang called The Revolution, but, after a few years, they were forced to split into two separate branches, known as the Blade of Marmora and Voltron. The Blade is usually more infiltration and spy stuff, whereas Voltron is much more... confrontational."

I looked at his fidgeting hands and realized that this must be a hard topic to talk about. He continued nonetheless.

"All the ranks in Voltron have weird names, too. Instead of a scary mafia boss, we have The Paladins. There is kind of a lead leader, but there are five total. I'm going to explain this a bit like an RPG game. The Black Paladin, who's like the boss, and is actually like the paladin class in most games. The Blue Paladin, usually more of a ranged ADC or DPS, like a ranger in D&D. The Yellow Paladin, who plays the role of the tank, someone who can take hits and deal heavy damage with slower hits. Green Paladin, usually the technology master, the current one is like a walking engineering textbook. And then there's the Red Paladin, who has been compared to a berserker more than once, and is probably the one who would bring a knife to a gunfight, and win."

"So, what were you?"

"Huh? Oh, I was the Red Paladin. Shiro was the Black Paladin, and I think he still is. I didn't ever see the faces of the Green and Yellow paladins, and our Blue Paladin died just before I left to join the Blade of Marmora."

God, he talks about this so calmly.

"So you joined the Blades of Marmalade, and then what?"

He laughed in my face. "Marmora. They thought I should try to get close to a member of one of the opposing gangs, Galra. So they chose Lotor-"

"Wait. Your ex is yet another mafia person? Did he find out about you?"

Keith shot me a look. "What's the point of being a spy if you get caught? No, he never found out, though I think he had his suspicions. Shiro found out about the abuse, but he couldn't do anything but complain to the Blades. I got some good information off Lotor, so they continued the mission, but after they fell... I couldn't get any backup, they were all stuck fighting off the Galra. So, they had no choice but to leave me."

"Oof."

He shrugged, still looking at the sunset. "I was happy enough. The Galra killed my parents, and I wanted revenge. Besides, weapons handling is always a good skill to have, right?"

"Right..."

Time skip, because of plot advancement. And dolphins. {Haru} That would be dolphin singular. And include a penguin, a shark, a butterfly, and an orca.

Keith POV

We spent a few more minutes in comfortable silence, watching the colours dancing across the sky, before heading back to Lance's apartment.

Now that I finally had my own clothing back, I was able to change into a pair of soft grey sweatpants and my most comfortable shirt, which had been a gag-gift from Shiro a few years ago. Say Hey If You're Gay isn't really what I want to have printed on my shirt when I walk down the street to get a coffee, though, so I just sleep in it. It's really soft.

Moving along, I still needed to brush my teeth, and probably comb some willow leaves out of my hair, so I grabbed my small bag of toiletries and made my way into the hall.

When I got to the bathroom, Lance was standing there, going through some sort of skincare routine.

"Do you, uh... D'you always do that...?"

"Not if I'm extremely drunk, but usually I do," he replied, already sounding half asleep.

"Hm. Fair enough."

I checked my reflection in the mirror.

Yep, there's definitely some leaves.

As I ran my comb through my hair, I noticed Lance staring at the back of my neck.

"Can I braid your hair tomorrow?" He questioned suddenly.

"Um- Sure? I mean, yeah, that's fine."

And then he just left the bathroom and went to sleep on the pullout. Well, that was random.

Laughing to myself, I put the comb down to brush my teeth, ready to hit the hay for the night.

After grabbing a glass of water to leave on the floor next to the bed, I went back to Lance's room, where I was staying.

Little did I know, I would not sleep well.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back where I'd done my Trials. The spot where I'd fought to prove myself worthy of being a Blade. It was just as I remembered, a coliseum-like room, seating placed around an arena. The only difference I could notice was the obvious lack of people, the only occupant in the room other than myself being Lotor.

Well, that's just what I fucking need.

He clapped his hands, and four figures stumbled forwards onto the floor, seemingly appearing from the air behind them. One was more animalistic, standing on four legs rather than two, as the others were, fur matted and tangled, stuck against his body.

"Cosmo!" His head perked up, but he looked tired like he had all but given up.

The other three shapes were Shiro, my dead father, and my mother, who was only announced as missing because the police couldn't find a body. All of them looked so drained, so weak like they might collapse at any moment.

"This is what you get for running away, Keith. So, who will you choose to die?" Lotor leered from his seat.

"Why do you think I would do that?"

Lotor grinned sadistically down at me, pulling out a familiar knife, one that had seen the blood run from my veins many times.

"I knew you would be stubborn, so tell me which one is going to die, or he'll pay for it."

I felt my heart stop short as he dragged Lance out of the shadows looming behind him. Just to prove he wasn't bluffing, Lotor let the knife sink slowly into Lance's thigh.

I snapped my eyes shut harshly, trying to block out his scream of agony. I couldn't move my legs, couldn't run at Lotor, couldn't make him stop. I couldn't move my arms, couldn't cover my ears, couldn't block out the sound of Lance's pained cries. I couldn't move my neck, couldn't look away, to try to remind myself that it's all just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just a dream.

"Keith, I'll do it. Save your parents, save your friend," Shiro begged.

"No, don't let him do that, Keith. I've already died once, it's fine if I die again," my father insisted.

"Look at me, son," my mother told me, a calm in the storm, "I'll do anything for you to be happy, I wasn't there for you when you needed me most, let me help you now. Spend time with your father, with your friends."

But I couldn't, I couldn't be the cause of anyone's death. Not again.

"One name, Keith. That's all you need to give me, and Lance will stop suffering. For now, at least." Lotor twisted the knife as he pulled it out of Lance's leg, wrenching another animalistic noise from his throat.

"You want a name? Fine, Lotor," I spat out, glaring at him with all the rage I could find within myself.

"That sounds like a threat, Keith," He purred, kicking Lance harshly into the seat in front of him. "I don't like threats."

"Then kill me! I'm the one that ran away, I'll pay for it. Just let them all go!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! That's just too easy!" He laughed, grinning down at me like I was nothing more than some exotic new toy to play with.

"It's just too easy to kill you. I want to watch as you lose hope, as the light leaves your eyes, and you become nothing more than an empty husk, as the guilt of knowing you killed your family overtakes every corner of your mind."

"I won't betray my family. You can't make me." I felt tears stinging at the corners of my eyes, trying to hide any signs of weakness.

"Dear little bird," Lotor cooed, "You already have."

Looking down at my hands, my eyes widened at the blood coating my hands, and the knife held tight in my grasp.

"No," I whispered.

My head snapped up to the four figures as they stumbled forwards again, pushed around by some invisible force, and I watched, unable to move, as my family fell to the floor. One by one they fell, all because of me.

I watched as Shiro, my brother in all but blood, looked up at me in betrayal as his eyes closed forever, as his last breath abandoned his lungs. I could feel bike rising to my mouth, trying to forget the horrible look in his eyes before they slid shut.

My father, the same gaping wounds he'd died from covering him once more, looked up in shock as he bled to death. I'd lost count of how many times I'd watched him die in my dreams, the same way every time. The wounds that the Galra had carved into his flesh slowly draining him until all that remained was an unrecognizable corpse covered in blood. But this time, I was the one who had cut him open.

My mother just smiled at me. The same sad smile she used to give me whenever she had to leave the house because she knew I was always scared she wouldn't come back. As a kid, I never realized how high that possibility was. Now, I was just glad it hadn't happened sooner, but when I saw that sad smile, the pain in her eyes as she left me again, knowing that I had caused that, I almost wished I hadn't known her. I watched as tears rolled down her face. Tears shed because of me.

Cosmo limped towards me, whining, but he looked like he was alright. His side seemed totally unharmed as he made his way across the floor. I felt a small hope rise, knowing that Cosmo might make it out.

Until he collapsed with a thud, revealing his other flank, and that hope came crashing down on me, as cruel, cold reality settled back in.

His entire left side looked almost as if it had been shredded away, bones revealed and blood dripping to the floor with a haunting noise. He looked to me for help, panic flashing across his eyes as his body twitched, each tremor drawing whines of pain from him.

The smell was getting unbearable. The smell of their blood. The smell of the death I'd caused.

I felt myself fall to my knees, but I didn't really feel it. All I could feel was the guilt I was drowning in, the grief closing itself like a noose around my throat.

Looking back to Shiro's body, I prayed he would get back up, wished he'd comfort me and tell me it wasn't my fault, even if I wouldn't ever believe him.

And then I remembered the look in his eyes when he fell to the ground.

Disgust, hatred, betrayal. He knew it was because of me. And so did I.

It was like I couldn't breathe. The sorrow crawled down my throat, blocking out any air. I was pretty sure I was hyperventilating, but I couldn't tell. It hurt so much. The betrayal in Takashi's eyes. The anger on my father's face. The pity in my mother's smile. The pain in Cosmo's whines.

"This is all your fault, Keith," Lotor's voice cut through the silence. "If you'd just listened to me, done as I'd asked, none of this would have had to happen. You doomed them all, the moment you ran out that door."

With that, Lotor picked Lance up harshly by his hair, looking at him disdainfully, and shoved the knife through his throat.

I watched in horror as Lance's eye found mine in a silent plea for help, tried to run up to him, wished I could hold him and say it would be alright, wished I could do anything.

But I couldn't move. I was paralyzed. I couldn't help. I couldn't save them. Couldn't save him.

"Don't forget Keith, this is all your fault." Lotor's voice pulled me away from Lance's dead eyes, as he pulled me further into my nightmare.

Lance POV

I was pulled from my sleep by small, consistent noise. I tensed instantly, before remembering Keith was sleeping in the room and had probably gotten up to get some water. But I saw him getting water earlier, so why would he need a new glass? Then I heard the sound again, and it seemed like Keith was talking in his sleep, though it wasn't clear enough to understand. He did, however, sound like he might be in pain, which was an immediate cause for concern.

Getting up and turning on the hall light, I found myself at the door to his room.

Should I knock? He probably wouldn't hear it if he's sleep-talking, but I feel bad just opening the door...

Feeling a bit guilty, I opened the door and found Keith curled in on his side, the light from the hall catching the tears rolling down his face. As I stood in the doorway, he started whimpering.

"No... Don't... Stop, leave them... It was me, no, no..." He continued to mumble to himself, tossing and turning as if he was trying to wake up.

"Keith, it's alright, it's only a dream," I spoke as calmly as I could, sitting beside his shivering body on the bed. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I tried to gently shake him awake.

His eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, glancing frantically around the room like a cornered animal. He seemed to calm down a bit after he realized where he was, but there was still panic written clearly all over him.

"Lance?" A shaky voice asked. "Lance, is that you?"

"Yes, Keith, it's me. Just breathe. You're safe here, just keep breathing. Are you alright?"

He paused for a second, trying to follow my instructions. "It was just a nightmare. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. It's just, I would usually have Takashi or Cosmo, someone to sleep with me."

I shifted my spot to lay down next to him. "I'll stay with you tonight."

Flustered, he started stumbling over his words.

"Wha- No- It's- You don't have to, I'll be fine!"

"Let me rephrase that: I'm staying here."


	13. Can I Have My Arm Back?*

*No arms were actually taken to make this chapter (and no cats or squirrels were nearly hit)

Keith POV

As Lance lay down next to me, I felt a blush rise to my face and hoped he couldn't see it in the dim light.

Holy shit, this is embarrassing. Unfortunately, it's also the only way that I'll be able to get any shut-eye.

Forcing myself to relax, I settled back down to sleep next to the boy I'd just watched die.

Waking up was turning out to be a very slow process. The first thing I registered, after what felt like about five minutes of being half asleep, was the sound of steady breathing filling my ears, accompanied soon after by the sound of traffic filtering in through the window. Soon after, I realized that my arm had fallen asleep (again), and went to pull my arm out from under my body, only to realize that I was on my back, and my arm was draped over my stomach.

Confused, I pulled my head back and noticed that there was an unconscious person using my chest as a pillow. This meant that consequently, the boy's chest was cutting off circulation to my hand. Oh, wait. Fuck. I felt my temperature spike as my half-conscious brain started to process and recall information, staring at Lance's head of soft hair.

"Wha- Wait, Keith? Why are you in my bed?"

I blinked a couple of times, trying to get my cognitive functions to function again.

"You woke me up from the nightmare last night. Speaking of which, why did you even come here in the first place?"

He paused and seemed to think for a second. All the while, my arm was still stuck and numb.

"Right!" His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "It sounded like you were in pain, so I came in to check on you. Were you having a nightmare or something?" He asked, concerned. "You acted like it's just a normal thing."

I looked away, shy about the topic. Noticing my discomfort, he shrugged it off and put his head back down, let me talk about it at my own pace. He put his head back down on my chest. Since when am I a pillow?

"Hey, Lance?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you maybe let go of me? I've lost feeling in my hand."

He paused, blinking, before scrambling to get off of me, and gracefully as a swan, falls off the bed.

"You alright down there?"

His face is already flushed red. Start up the Bisexual Distress Sirens, I guess.

"Oh, yeah. Yep, I'm fine, nothing wrong with me. So, um- Well, what do you wanna do for breakfast?"

"Hm. We had sushi last night, so... Where are you from?"

"Cuba. Why?"

Once he was upright again, he took a seat on the edge of the mattress, shooting me a questioning look.

"I was thinking, maybe we could have some sort of traditional Cuban breakfast...?"

His face lit up like a Christmas tree. A cute Christmas tree. With a lot of lights.

"I'll go get started on that! You just take your time, I've got this covered," he smiled.

Sitting up, I chuckled at his sudden disappearance, until-

"Fuck!" I cringed.

Lance's head poked in from the hall.

"You alright in there?"

"Yep, just regaining feeling in my hand."

He stood in the doorway, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry, I fell asleep on your arm..."

"Don't worry about it. I should be able to move my fingers properly in a few minutes," I joked.

He left the room, a bright blush still adorning his face. I could hear him moving things around the kitchen, getting ready to make breakfast. Grabbing a Guns N' Roses t-shirt, a pair of boxers, and skinny jeans, I went to go take a shower. I couldn't help but wonder why Lance had offered to stay with me last night, even though he had no need to.

*time skip, because of AC/DC shirts*

I walked out the door to the bathroom, feeling more like myself. Just out of habit, I slung my Marmora blade over my shoulder, feeling safer with it within reach.

I had managed to snag some of my old jewellery from Lotor's apartment, and, looking through what I'd gotten back, I managed to find my mother's amethyst stud earrings and the small dagger statement earring that Shiro had given me for my seventeenth birthday.

Putting my mother's earrings in my standard lobe piercings, and Shiro's dagger in the upper lobe piercing on my right ear, I took a moment to look in the mirror. Even though so much had changed, I still looked the same.

I walked out to hear music, much like yesterday morning, but this time it wasn't Queen. Actually, it wasn't rock music this time. I could hear Lance singing in a language that didn't match either of the two I knew.

Probably Spanish. I mean, it sounds like Spanish. I think.

"Hey, Keith! Food's ready!"

"Thanks! This smells amazing, what'd you make?"

I looked at the small platters of food set out, and Lance began to explain.

"We have some fresh fruit over here, including mango, pineapple, and melon, some lightly buttered toast, fried eggs, and black coffee. I know it's simple, but I really love it."

I sat down to fill my plate with the delicious looking meal.

"So, Keith," Lance began, "What's your job plan?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked out the window, sipping his coffee. "I know that you used to work with the Blades of Marmora and Voltron, and from the media, I know that you were a dancer. But that job was with Loturd, so what's your plan now?"

I paused, having never thought about that.

Lance continued, "I can tell you don't have any ideas, so here's my offer: I work as a barista at a café called The Castle of Lions. Hunk and Pidge are also working there. The owners have been trying to hire for a month or so now."

"So... you think I should go from an assassin to a dancer, to a coffee maker? It goes pretty well with the rest of my life, fucked up and crazy. If the owners are alright with me working there, I'd be happy to."

Lance smiled, one of the biggest, purest smiles I have ever seen.

"Yes! I was really hoping you would say that, but you don't seem like a people person or an outside person. Oh, by the way, I like the earrings, Emo Boy."

I narrowed my eyes at him before playfully responding.

"Emo? You're calling me emo? Why? And for your information, I love the sun!"

He bit into a piece of toast. "You and the sun? Either you spend thousands on sunscreen, or you're a vampire because your skin is super pale. Kinda like ivory, or a prince from a fairy tale."

My eyebrows shot up, surprised, and I looked away in an attempt to hide my blush.

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

"Keith? Yo, Keithy, you there?"

My head snapped up, thoroughly embarrassed.

"KEITHY?! WHO YOU CALLING KEITHY?!" I yelled. Lance flinched, leaning away from me.

"I-I'm sorry, it was just supposed to be a joke..."

I pulled away immediately, shocked at what I'd just done.

He's scared. He's scared of me. What have I done? Lance has only been kind to me, and he has to deal with this in return.

"Lance, I-" I was at a loss of words. Why had I reacted that way?

"I-It's alright, you just reacted a bit differently than I expected!" He tried to laugh it off, but his unease made the laughter shake, and the words couldn't have fooled anyone.

"No, it's not alright. You give me kindness, food, a second chance, a place to stay, empathy, hope, happiness, and I give you this," I lamented.

There was a tense silence as I wallowed in my regret, wishing I could take my actions back.

"Keith." Lance's voice was soft but firm. "I know you think it's your fault, but you've been through a lot. It's completely acceptable for you to be a bit snappy or short-tempered, really, it is! Besides, I'm your friend now, right?"

A faint smile crossed his lips as he took my face gently in his hands, urging me to look him in the eyes.

"If I can't handle you at your worst, I don't deserve you at your best. And I know I still haven't gotten to see your best, but I'm planning on sticking around, so I'll definitely be here when things change for the better."

I was still doubtful, I didn't want to hurt him. Even if it had been an accident, I'd still scared him, and I couldn't let that happen again. The only problem with that? My self-control was not the best.

"Are you sure you want to put up with me? I can always find another place to stay, if you need me out," I pressed.

"You're staying. If you want to leave you can, but if this is just because you were feeling a bit off this morning, then there's no reason for you to go. When you grow up as the youngest of five kids, you get used to people needing a bit of space."

"That doesn't mean I'm not still going to be sorry, Lance," I mumbled awkwardly.

"Go ahead, but just know that my mom is still scarier than you, no matter what."

Shaking my head with an exaggerated sigh, even though I was smiling, I finished the food on my plate.

"Do we have any plans for the day?" I asked Lance.

"Well, I was thinking we could go- Shit, we're late."

"Late for what?"

"You're coming with me to work. Congrats, Keith, I'm getting you a new job."

Long story short, we ran a red light, almost hit a squirrel (and a cat), and Lance almost got pulled over for speeding.

"You want to maybe move out of the no parking zone?" I asked as we stopped in front of the café.

So he moved the vehicle.

Just seconds after we got off the bike, an irritated woman came storming out of the café at an alarming rate, eyes set on Lance.

"LANCE CHARLES MCCLAIN, THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK YOU HAVE BEEN LATE!"

I watched in confusion as the woman grabbed him by the ear, dragging him towards the entrance to The Castle of Lions.

"Woah, 'Lura, chill, please! I have someone for you to meet!" Lance cried, struggling to escape her grip.

"And who might that be?!"

"Him," Lance said gesturing towards me, "He wants a job."

The woman let go of Lance, who stumbled back a few steps, rubbing his ear as he muttered to himself in Spanish.

"Who are you?" She asked as she circled me, pausing for a moment at my back.

Shit, my blade is still there. Well, there goes the job opportunity.

"I'm asking what your name is."

"Uh, my name is Keith Kogane."

Her eyes narrowed as she came back around to face me

"The dancer? Why would you need a job?"

Lance stepped in to save me, his ear still bright red.

"He wants a more social job, Allura."

Allura rolled her eyes, "I'm assuming you brought this young man here because you fancy him, but we are short a barista. If it's a social job he's looking for, you brought him to the right place."

She grabbed my arm, ignoring Lances protests. "Come on, Keith, Lance can show you around. Also, you'll need to put your knife in the staff room."


	14. A touque is like a candadian Beenie

Lance POV

Allura dragged me into the cafe and I sighed, watching Keith follow us hesitantly. Poor guy. Allura Altea (yes, like the park), is a very intimidating woman.

"Okay, McClain, get started, show him the simple drinks and how to work the cash register. Basically everything you struggled with, that alright? Good."

Ouch, point taken.

Keith, having returned from putting his knife into the cramped staff room-

Where did he get the knife? Has he been wearing it the entire time? It must be a habit from his old job.

Anyways, he came back looking rather uncomfortable in wearing a red apron. I pulled on my blue one, getting ready to teach him the basics of the barista.

He caught on pretty quickly, so I didn't need to worry about watching him too closely. Of course, I was still a bit worried, since he'd never worked at a Starbucks or anything, but I was fine to leave him alone for a few minutes.

Activity in the café usually picked up around lunch, so we could probably expect to see someone else behind the counter with us at some point today. Hopefully Pidge. She always makes the shifts more comedic.

It was still early, though, so the only people other than the staff were a friendly old couple who popped in every week (and gave generous tips), a businessman who seemed like he was late, and a group of local university students who stopped in occasionally.

One of the girls in the group of students seemed to be trying to hit on Keith, who seemed to be not noticing at all as he took orders, handing the cups off to me as he wrote them down. How could he not notice the pretty girl flirting with him?

My mood soured a bit, but I'm not sure if it's because I realized I'd need to teach Keith about girls, there weren't any cute girls flirting with me, or if maybe I wanted to be in her place.

Wait. Did I just- Nah. No way. I mean, Keith is cute, but it's not like I would like him. Yeah, I just need more caffeine, right?

Looking back down at the cup in my hands, I noted that it was a good thing I had the orders memorized, because I probably would've messed it up if I hadn't.

"Caitlin, stop flirting with the new barista, you sleep-deprived lesbian," I heard one of the guys say.

"Thomas, chill, this is my friend Cupid who introduced me to my soulmate, which resulted in you being able to get drunk and try to kidnap our dog. His name is Keith, he doesn't bite. When he's calm and/or sober."

What was I listening to?

Moving over to the pick-up counter, I checked the name on the drink I'd just made.

"Vanessa, chai tea iced coffee to go!"

"On the topic of your dog," Keith piped up from where he was brewing one of the coffees, "How's Ace doing? Last time I saw him, he was still small enough for Cosmo to carry him around like a bag of corn chips."

Taking another cup from the collection of orders waiting to be completed, I started on Thomas' lemon ginger iced tea.

"He's a very pretty pupper, that's fur sure!"

"I forgot about the puns. What have I done. Do you come here every morning?"

"I try to make it over here every morning, and to actually answer your question, Ace is doing very well. He is our son, we love him, and he's turning out to be tall for a shetland sheepdog. But really, he's just a loving, yappy smol floof. Is Cosmo floofier again?"

"I think he's gonna end up being taller than me, if he keeps growing. Kyle, I have your almond milk cinnamon latte."

"Order for Thomas!" I called into the small group of students.

Taking the last cup, I checked the order and went to make a caramel milkshake for Caitlin the sleep-deprived lesbian.

"So, Keith, how long you been working here?" Kyle asked, joining the conversation now that he had some caffeine in his system.

"About... An hour? Lance, what time did you drag me over here at?"

Surprised, I looked up from the drink I was making and spilled milk all over my hand.

"That went well," I joked, trying not to get too flustered.

Turning around to grab a towel, I finally got a good look at Keith's friend and her group.

Well, fuck. I just spazzed in front of five really cute people. I mean, one of them is a lesbian, but still.

My only method of telling them apart, other than what I'd listened to from their conversation, was the three drinks already handed out.

Thomas was a latino who looked like a basketball player. Tall, broad shouldered, and fit. The welcoming smile directed towards his friends explained a sense of family and openness. Kind, hazel eyes hidden behind black-rimmed glasses held a sense of humour. A sharp jawline softened by five o'clock shadow and smooth complexion, yet he still had a gentle look to him, even though he could probably bench press me. Dark-wash tapered jeans, a short-sleeved white button-up, and a grey vest hugged his body in all the right places, and the pansexual pride flag on the flat-brim snapback hiding his hair helped me recall a few pickup lines.

Kyle's fluffy, smoky-lavender undercut was partially hidden under a beanie, but it still fell into his eyes. He didn't seem to notice, however, as he took a sip from his latte to hide the grin gracing his lips in response to something said in the conversation going on. His small frame was covered by a pastel pink sweatshirt, hanging loosely off his shoulders in a cute way, light grey sweatpants fitted well around his waist and legs, the same grey as the oversized toque* resting on his head. Raising his hand, he brushed his hair off his face, and I blinked in surprise. His left eye was a dark brown, similar to sepia or umber, but the right was a lighter shade, more of a honeyed colour. The difference was small, but it was there. The colours were brought out more by the lilac shade he'd dyed his hair, and, when paired with his outfit and Korean features, almost made it look like he belonged in a K-Pop group.

Vanessa bore a certain resemblance to Thomas, and her wavy, shoulder-length hair bore a certain resemblance to dark chocolate. A bright, forest-green knitted sweater sat on her relaxed shoulders, interrupted by the black straps of the violin case sitting on her back. Ripped skinny jeans of the same colour hugged her hips, making her sweater that much more vibrant. Simple, yellow gold jewellery snaked over her ears, but her neck, fingers, and wrists were left plain, probably for the violin. Excited, caramel eyes mimicked the smile curling over her full red lips as she laughed a joyous tune, a happy kind of carefree aura radiating from her. Even though she sipped her drink calmly, everything about her personality seemed bubbly and energetic.

The sleep-deprived lesbian was living up to her title. Caitlin looked particularly comfortable, in an oversized white hoodie and loose-fitting light wash jeans. She held the extra fabric of her sleeves in an adorable way, and her long, sun-bleached blonde hair was pulled over her shoulder in a lazy side braid, strands of hair sticking out or slipping onto her face. Bright green eyes held intelligence clouded over by a need for sleep or caffeine, and a tired smile rested on her lips as she tried to keep up with the conversation. Her fair complexion gave her a delicate look, despite the ferocity her stance seemed to express.

I turned to find something I could clean the counter with, and suddenly my vision was cut off. It took me a moment to realize there was a towel on my face. Grabbing blindly at the fabric, I managed to poke myself in the eye before regaining my sight and spotting the culprit.

Seemed like the culprit was Keith, if his laughter was anything to go off of. I'd been staring at our customers for just long enough that he'd managed to find a towel and aim perfectly at my face.

His face lit up with mirth when he sighted my shocked face, and I'll admit, I was quite surprised. The last time I'd had anything similar to a towel thrown at me was when my niece was two, and she decided it would be hilarious to try putting something on my head, a napkin being the only thing at her disposal at the time.

But the way his lips twitched up into a smile, the melodic tone of his voice, the amusement in his eyes, and the comfort with which he let himself show emotion... I couldn't stay mad at him.

Not that I like him or anything, he just happens to seem more appealing with the earrings. Fuck, I'll just clean up that milk now.

Wiping the counter down hurriedly, I went about finishing Caitlin's caramel milkshake.

It was funny to see the difference in her attitude when she'd gotten a bit of caffeine and sugar. Almost immediately, Caitlin was more energetic and focused.

"If you ever want to stop by and say hello, you know where we are. Ace misses you!" Caitlin smiled.

Waving goodbye, they all set out again, now with drinks.

"Gimme a piggyback, hermano!" Vanessa demanded as the group headed towards the door.

"'Nessa," Thomas sighed, "Just because you're my sister, that doesn't mean you get priority over my tea."

"Wait, those two are siblings?" I whispered to Keith as we watched Vanessa continue her attempts at getting a piggyback ride.

"I don't know," Keith admitted with a shrug. "I've known them for as long as you. What do you think that name she used for him meant?"

"It's the Spanish word for brother."

"Ah, right. You're bilingual," he recalled.

Finally, Kyle crouched down so Vanessa could sit on his back, and Thomas was freed of his sister's nagging.

Keith let a quiet sigh through his nose as our new friends disappeared around the corner of another building.

"So, Keith, it's a hard job, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Just then, Allura glided gracefully into the kitchen-place... Bar... Thing... I don't think there's a word for it.

"You two have a break in an hour, right before Pidge gets here. Make sure she doesn't hurt herself," she declared.

"It's funnier when she's left alone, though!" I whined.

"We'll look after her," Keith reassured at the same time.

Allura just sighed at us and left.

The hour passed quickly, and Keith and I headed outside to get some fresh air.

"Hey, Keith, there's Pidge's brother! That must be his boyfriend, then."

"Takashi!" Keith shouted suddenly.

The taller of the couple looked up at the sound of the name, his face lighting up before he ran towards us.

"Keith! You're alright!"

He pulled Keith into a tight embrace, a wide grin setting on his face as he held onto my friend like a lifeline.

"Takashi, I told you it'd be fine. And of course I'm alright, I didn't become the Red Paladin for nothing!"

"Shut up, I'm your big brother. I get to worry about you when you're in danger."

"Yeah, whatever, I could probably beat you in a fight," Keith finalized, pushing the man away jokingly.

"Whatever you say, little brother. Matt, this is Keith, the quirky one I told you about."

"Oh, so you're the one Shiro's always worrying about!" Matt glanced over Keith quickly.

"From the way you talk about him, I expected him to be incapable of taking care of himself- Oh shit, wait, that is a knife. A very dangerous, real, sword-like metal knife. Yep. No more doubts, this is your brother."

The man- Shiro, finally seemed to notice me, and a mischievous smirk began rising to his lips.

"Keith, I didn't think you would find yourself a boyfriend that quickly!"

"Oh, hi Lance!" Matt said.

"Yo," I replied. "Wha- Boyfriend?!"

"Wait- No- Takashi, that's not- We-"

"No, sorry dude we're only friends! I mean- We're roommates, too- That's it, though!"

"Yeah! Well, we did kiss, but we're just friends! And roommates! Roommate friends!"

We got more flustered every second, trying to explain the situation, but when Keith mentioned our kiss, I just blushed and tried to sink into the ground.

"Hm. Yep, whatever you say." Shiro's sarcasm was obvious.

It was at this moment that Pidge walked up the street to find her brother, her brother's boyfriend, her friend, and her friend's roommate having one of the most awkward conversations someone can impose on their siblings.

"Oh, now I remember that you both mentioned each others' names. Repeatedly. And the fact that you're siblings. Dang, how'd I manage to forget that my friend's new roommate's brother is dating my brother? Probably because I don't care about your relationships. Sorry, Matt." Was all she said.

Pidge was done with their crap before it even began. She wasn't going to let the petty children in front of her get in her way.

"Oh, hi Katie!" Matt shouted down the street.


	15. Memories, biting hands and a floof

Keith POV

"Shiro, it's been a while. Why don't you come over for dinner tonight so we can catch up? I'll cook," I offered my older brother.

"Can I come?" My brother's boyfriend asked. Matthew, I think.

"Why not, the more the merrier!" Lance said happily. "Is it cool if Hunk comes too?"

"And my little gremlin sister," Matt added, patting Pidge's head before shrieking and pulling away when Pidge chomped on his hand.

"Great, so, dinner for six people?"

"No, seven," Shiro corrected. "You forgot someone.

"Who? Lance, Pidge, Hunk, you, Matt, and myself. That's six."

"Yeah, but there's also this guy," Takashi says, walking towards his van to open the back.

A huge floof of hair puffs out of the back and I heard a loud WOOF as the wolf extraordinaire jumps out, tackling me to the ground.

"COSMO!" I yelled, my voice muffled by the fur.

"He came to my house a few days ago, scared the living daylights out of Matt," my brother said, making no moves to pull the wolf off of me.

"You would be scared too if a giant animal knocked you down and ran around you boyfriends' apartment!" Matt exclaimed, gesturing towards Cosmo.

Pidge looked down at me, or, what was still visible of me.

"Keith isn't scared."

Matt threw his hands up. "Well, I'm pretty sure Keith can carry his wolf around like a backpack! He's known Cosmo for a while, so he's used to him. And besides, he has a knife! He can handle the creature!"

Takashi laughed at these comments.

"Well, first, I'm pretty sure the only reason Keith ended up with an eight-pack was his determination to carry Cosmo around like a toddler, Keith has been his mother for several years, and would never stab his friend. And second, Matt, you are so adorable, I'm lucky to be your boyfriend."

"God damn it, Shiro!" Pidge spoke up, "I don't need a blushing, flustered brother for the rest of the day! Or my life! I'm his younger sibling, it's supposed to be my job to mess with him! Now, look at what you've done. Taken all the fun out of my job."

She was right, both Matt and Lance had bright faces.

I understand Matt, but why Lance?

"Wha- A-An eight pack?" Lance stuttered.

Ah, that would explain it.

I could tell my face was probably rather red, based on the heat staining my cheeks.

"Why, yes, Lance," Takashi responded, obviously prepared to tease me. "I'm sure he would show you if you ask nicely enough, right Keith?"

Looking up at my brother through the fur on my face, I did my best to communicate the general sense of Takashi, you little shit, I'm going to kill you.

He just winked at me. Stupid family.

Lance meanwhile, was red as a tomato. And dying.

"Cosmo, up!" I told my fluffy friend. Complying, he got off me, moving to sit beside Matt.

"Uh, well, Keith, we should be heading back. Come on, Pidge, Allura says we're responsible for you today."

"Fine, but I will not refrain from making fun of either of you," Pidge declared, walking towards the cafe with Lance.

"So, I'll see you around six, Shiro. I'm guessing you know where Lance lives, Matt?" I asked, getting a nod in response.

"Alright, see you then, Keith!" My brother said cheerfully.

"Bye, Takashi."

And suddenly, I was met with an unwanted memory of the last time I'd said goodbye to my brother, five years earlier.

"Keith! I command you to not go on this mission." Shiro yelled at me I walked through the twisted hallways of the Blades of Marmora/Voltron base.

I turned and smiled at my brother.

"One, I am technically a member of the Blades, so you can't do that. And two, this can't be anything more difficult than what I've already done."

Thurgaz appeared beside me, rounding a corner to confront us. "Shirogane, you of all people should understand the importance of the information Kogane might uncover, or could it be that the Black Paladin no longer believes the Galra to be a threat?"

Shiro flinched, covering the emotions on his face with a cold mask. During his time leading Voltron, he had been known to show no mercy to the Galra, or his own soldiers. He couldn't afford to lose that reputation. He nodded stiffly to Thurgaz and walked over to me for a final goodbye. Contacting friends and family was frowned upon when on missions of any sort.

"Please, Keith. The Blades are falling apart. I don't know if Voltron will be able to save you if they do."

Who did he think he was?!

"Bye, Shirogane," I snarled, "I can handle this, better than you could. I don't need your help."

I didn't want to hurt him. But I didn't want him to put his life- or anyone else's, for that matter- in danger for me.

I turned sharply, climbing into the car that would drop me off at the dance studio where Lotor Prince teaches.

My goal? Get close to the target in order to gain information on the Galra.

I took a deep breath.

"Come on, Keith," I mumbled to myself. "Just focus on your job. You can apologize to Shiro later."

"Earth to Kogane, you alive?" Takashi said, waving a hand in front of my face, causing me to jump back in surprise.

"Justthingremembersorrybye."

He looked confused. Understandably.

"What?"

"Sorry, it's-" Rubbing the back of my neck, I let out a sigh. "I was just remembering the last time I said goodbye to you."

"Don't worry about it. You're alright now, that's all I care about. If you ever need to talk, you know my number."

"Thanks, Takashi, I-"

"Yo, Keith! You coming, or do Pidge and I get to be irresponsible?" Lance shouted from the café.

Waving a final goodbye to my brother, I went back to my increasingly confusing work shift.


	16. Cosmo Makes An Entrance!

Lance POV 

I followed Pidge back into the cafe, preparing for four hours of chaos and jokes made at my expense.

Keith entered after us looking sad, as per usual.

Honestly, I'm worried about the guy. No one should have to deal with what he's been through, especially not at that age. I mean, look it up? He is a famous dancer. He can't be much older than me, and I'm barely an adult. Not that I ever act like one.

"Lance? Lance!" Pidge said, slapping me not so gently across the face with the milk towel. Ow.

"What?!" I snapped.

"You zoned out while staring at Keith's ass, you bisexual disaster."

Oh, hell nah.

I glanced at Keith (again) to see his reaction and was met with a blush which quickly turned into a glare. What is with this guy? All I've done is help him, he doesn't need to be a jerk.

"Can you please take my order?" A man asked standing at the counter impatiently.

I rushed to get the customer's tea ready and moved on to the next person. It got busy around lunch with people coming in for food, coffee, or just a quick break and something to do. I still often find myself getting confused when the shop seemed to suddenly be full.

Rush hour went by quickly, with little to no comments from Pidge and Keith. By the time the shop was down to about ten people, I actually believed that it would be a calm workday. At least, until I was taking an order and heard the most peculiar conversation.

"Okay, scary boy, pick me up." Pidge said in a don't question me tone.

"Why would I do that?" Keith asked, clearly confused and not used to the random antics of Katie Holt.

Pidge huffed, irritated she had to explain.

"Because I am too short to reach the coffee beans. Even Lance needs a step stool, and Allura said I'm not allowed to climb on the counters anymore. So, you're going to pick me up."

"I am almost certain that there is a better way to do this," he said, as he went to pick her up.

Before I could agree with Keith's statement and question what the fuck they were doing, Pidge was already in the air. It didn't seem like either of them were having trouble, between Pidge usually acting like a cat who's already done with the world and Keith having adopted a dire wolf.

That is, it didn't seem like either of them were having trouble, until Pidge unexpectedly kicked off the wall, swinging around to the right and removing herself from Keith's grip to land in front of the counter. I am genuinely beginning to believe the laws of physics don't apply to her.

The sudden change in weight (and lack of warning) caused Keith to lose his balance, and the few customers still in the building, including the one that had ordered the bag of coffee beans, watched with mixed expressions of worry and amusment, as I leapt forward to catch the ravenette.

Wait- For fuck's sake.

Of course, I forgot to calculate the difference between his weight and my strength. Me, a tall, twig-like disaster, trying to catch Keith, a short pile of muscle with an aura of depression.

In short, I fell. And, unable to regain his balance, Keith fell on me.

But that's not all, folks! I was winded from the fall, and having trouble breathing with a human being pretty much lying on my lungs.

Oh, and Keith had fallen onto me, facing me, so we were on the ground with our faces very close together. And he was, unfortunately, quite attractive.

"Lance! What the heck, dude!" Keith screamed in my face- asked very loudly, his face turning red as he tried to get up. It was a bit more difficult than usual, with his leg stuck under my waist as I struggled to breathe. And it's not like I could move, I was pinned down by the angry thing on top of me. He was on his own to get us out of this.

"Sorry for trying to save you, jackass." I wheezed, trying to explain my actions.

Pidge decided now was the best time to show her true nature.

"My, what a nice chair!" She exclaimed while plopping herself down onto Keith's back.

Her true nature, that of a fourth-grader. All of us who work here are just children at heart, except for maybe Keith and Allura.

"Pidge!" Both Keith and I shouted as she gave the man his coffee beans and took his money, her head barely above the counter. By now the cafe had quieted down a lot, and the few customers remaining were regulars, used to this kind of weird crap.

"Pidge, you have three seconds to get off my back before I throw you off," Keith said, his voice threatening despite his red face. He readjusted himself, moving more of his weight to his hands and knees, allowing me to inhale properly again.

At this point, I realized I could have just breathed to my stomach, but it was much easier to handle once I had oxygen again.

"Please, as if you could throw me off from where you are. I may be small, but I'm not as light as I look. You're probably aware of that, though." Pidge answered, a smug look on her face.

Keith took a deep breath, probably to make sure he didn't throw her off early and began to count.

"One."

"I would get off of him," a new voice suggested.

"Hey there, Matt, Shiro! Why would you say that?" Pidge asked, waving to her brother.

"Two."

"I have been thrown across the room by Keith before. He can toss me down the stairs if he really wants. And he has. And it hurts." Keith's brother, Shiro warned.

"Three. Lance, don't move."

"What are yo-"

I have no idea what happened, but the sudden screech of a person seeing their life flash before their eyes as they're launched through the air with no warning interrupted my sentence. A very specific screech. Keith just stood up like nothing had happened, brushing off his shirt.

"Can't have any outside interference when murder strikes. Here," he offered me his hand, pulling me to my feet.

"What the quiznak was that noise?!" Allura demanded, gliding in at the perfect time, as always. "Can I not leave you alone for one shift?"

"Quiznak?" Keith questioned.

"Allura?" Shiro confirmed, letting go of Matt's hand.

"Shiro? I recognized Red, but you too?" My boss asked, a confused expression on her face.

"What's a red?" Pidge and Matt asked simultaneously.

"No one, just an old friend," Allura answered, eyes flicking briefly to Keith.

Wait, Red. Red Paladin. Keith knows Allura?! Does that mean she knows about all that weird gang stuff Keith was involved in? Is that why he didn't have to do a job interview?! It would explain the lack of questioning on the knife... Do knives have some sort of special meaning? Is that how they show their ranks?! DOES ALLURA HAVE A KNIFE?!

"So. Pidge. How's life post-getting-thrown-across-the-room-by-Keith-suddenly-moving?" Matt asked, trying to break the awkward tension and check on his recently flung little sister.

"Yeah, I'm doing alright. Note to self, Keith is not a friendly chair. He is comfortable, though," the gremlin noted, rubbing her head.

"Anyways. Matt, Shiro. Why'd you show up again? Our plans aren't for a few more hours." Keith asked, trying to distract from the looks of amusement and quiet laughs coming from around the cafe.

"Well, I thought you would be in need of some entertainment, but now I understand that it'll be us being entertained," Shiro said, gesturing towards Pidge.

"We close in around two hours, so feel free to get a drink and sit around for as long as you want," Allura said, still seeming surprised after the talk about 'Red.'

I prepared Shiro's decaf latte (with whipped cream, naturally, and he even gave me some rainbow sprinkles to put on it), and Pidge got Matt's black coffee with a pump of hazelnut.

When they got their drinks, the two lovebirds went and sat in the window, prepared to talk and wait for the next few hours.

Shiro POV (indeed a rare sighting)

As I spoke to Keith, I realized how much I had missed my brother over the past five years.

Sure, he can be an annoying little shit, but he's always been my amazing, intelligent, table screeching, kind- okay, maybe not that last one- quirky little partner in crime.

I watched him scramble about, making drinks and barking comebacks at Lance's comments about anything from the way the coffee was brewed to the way his hair was styled.

I, personally, think his hair is great. Sure, he could do with a little trim to clean up and probably needed to brush his hair more, but Keith's mullet is amazing. One time, when we were going undercover, we needed someone to take the place of a bartender, so it was decided that Keith would crossdress, and I would work as a lounge singer. Unfortunately, that meant I was put in singing lessons, but all we really had to do for Keith was pull his hair into a ponytail, put some makeup on him, and send him to a bartending course for a week. We didn't manage to get him into a skirt, though.

Taking a bite of my bagel, I looked over to my beautiful boyfriend to find him stealing the whipped cream off my drink.

"Hey! Matt, go get your own whipped cream!"

"Sharing is caring, so you're going to share your food," he declared as brought his spoon to his mouth.

"You could at least steal it out of my mouth, and give a little something back to me," I commented with a smirk.

"Wha- Uh- You- Shiro!"

Yep, my amazing boyfriend.

I heard Pidge clear her throat, and as I looked over, she began a short poem.

"Roses are red, but the stems are prickly. What the heck, that escalated quickly."

"Pidge, I love you, but shut up," Matt sighed.

*time skip because of disaster gays/bi/ace/pan/currently absent character(s) we all love (looking at you, Coran)*

About half an hour after Pidge's poetry recital, Matt and I were talking quietly about why I always complimented him so much. I had finished my drink by now and was just trying to win the hopeless battle of helping my boyfriend realize what a great person he is.

Like I said: a losing battle. All I managed to do was make him red-faced and flustered. That's all that ever happens, but it's still cute. Matt is as bad as Keith when it comes to taking compliments. He always blinks with surprise, and you can see in his eyes that he appreciated it, but his mouth will then deny the statement for eternity.

After another good half hour of this, the cafe began to get really quiet, and Keith came over for a quick question.

Keith POV

"Hey, Takashi? Sorry to bother you, but do you have any idea where Cosmo went?"

"Oh! He just wandered off to explore," Shiro reassured. "He doesn't usually see this side of town, so he headed off to go make some friends. Don't worry, I put his collar on, so people will know he's safe. He'll stay nearby."

I was surprised to hear he even still had Cosmo's collar since he hadn't seen him in about five years.

"'Kay, thanks. I'll keep an eye out for him."

This was pretty normal for the oversized puppy, so I focused on making drinks and not threatening to kill the people that waltzed or strutted up to the counter with incredibly confusing orders.

"Uh, I'll just get the usual, but make it quick. My shift starts soon, and I can't have bad customer service holding me up," the young dude who couldn't even be bothered to look up from his phone said.

"Oh, sorry, sir, I'm new here, so I'm afraid I don't know your order." I was struggling to sound like I didn't already hate him. He made himself seem like he was more important than oxygen.

Looking up from his phone for a judgemental moment, he rolled his eyes with a sigh before beginning the ridiculous order.

"A toasted poppy seed bagel in a paper bag and a white chocolate cashew milk iced latte with two pumps of caramel, whipped cream and a dark chocolate swirl, but don't even try to give me a straw, those things are horrible. And my name's Xzavier, with a 'z'.

I will fucking kill you. And whatever dumbass named you, I thought through a pained smile.

"Need a hand, Keith?" Lance asked, seeming to recognize the guy at the counter. "'Llura told me to take out the garbage, and you've been working pretty non-stop, so why don't we switch jobs?"

Lowering his voice and leaning in closer, he added, "And I know this guy is a pain in the ass."

I tensed as his breath brushed against my ear.

Usually having someone this close to my neck would make me uneasy and on edge, but Lance was close enough for me to feel his breath, and I was fine with it. I almost enjoyed it. That put me on edge more than anything.

"Yeah, sounds good," I agreed. If my voice was a little unsteady, no one mentioned it.

Walking over to where Pidge was sitting on the counter, I grabbed her ankles and picked her up, watching as calmly as I could while she started flailing around like a fish out of water.

"Lance told me to take out the trash, where do you want to go?"

"Very funny, Keith, but you've already sent me flying across the kitchen. Put me down before I chew your legs off. Please. And thank you."

Lowering the child carefully to the floor, I went to actually take the garbage out.

After tossing the bag over the side of the industrial garbage bin, or whatever it was, I leaned against a wall with a sigh, taking a moment to run my hands over my face.

"Why does it seem like every time I relax this week, something bad happens?" I complained to myself.

"Now, why would you think that, little bird?"

I turned to see (drum roll, please) Lotor.

"Are you trying to prove me wrong right now? Because it is not working. In fact, I think you're doing the exact opposite." I snarled, reaching for my knife.

My hand closed around empty air, the handle of the blade no longer anywhere near where it was supposed to be. I'd left the damned thing in the staff room like I was asked to.

"Well, fuck. I'm going to assume you're giving a little speech before," I lowered my voice and tried to copy his accent, "'reclaiming what is rightfully yours.' Right?"

He walked towards me, some stupid cross between sashaying and strutting. I hate his walk with a burning, angry passion.

"Wrong. I'm going to skip to the part where I reclaim you before your idiot little friend comes back."

Okay, Keith. Breathe. That's the first step. Breathing.

Despite my amazing pep talk, I felt my breathing begun to speed up, the first sign of my panic attacks.

I ran through the symptoms in my head, not on purpose, just so my body could continue to freak out.

The second sign, trembling, shaking, general lack of stability. And yeah, I was definitely shaking. I lowered myself into a more stable stance, aiming a kick for the side of his knee

Bad idea, very bad idea. Lotor just caught my leg, and as I panicked, my hand darted out to try to hit him, get him away from me with any means necessary.

I was making it too easy for him. Grabbing my hand, he tugged and my leg as he forced my other knee in with his heel, causing me to lose my balance (yet again) and fall onto my back.

He grabbed my right arm and pulled me up to stand, using his elbow to pin my shoulder to the wall.

I struggled against him, but pushing away from the wall drove his elbow into some sort of joint, pulling back towards the wall reminded me about the bruise I'd gotten from our last encounter, and when I tried to tug my arm out to the left, he pressed his thumb into a pressure point on my wrist.

He ran his fingers lightly over the scars on my wrist, a look of pity and mockery settling into a disappointed frown.

"You were never happy with me. I can understand that now." He pulled a knife from his pocket and set the flat of the blade on the palm of my hand, putting on a mask of regret. The malice shone through his eyes, even as he pretended to be sorry.

"We can both stop acting. You're an agent on the opposite side. The losing side."

As he spoke, the knife drifted down my hand, towards the old scars and fresh scabs, chipping away the skin and dried blood to let the unhealed wounds reopen.

My head fell forward as I bit my lip, tears welling up at the corners of my eyes as the panic slowly filled every corner of my mind.

"Keith, do you really have to complain every time your fiancé comes to see you?" He sneered. All I could do was turn to glare as I grimaced in pain, trying not to scream as he whittled away my skin.

Fiancé. Of course he brought that up. I remember being forced to accept a ring at gunpoint, but it's gone. There's nothing tying me to him. Nothing but reluctant words.

Could I stab him with my earrings? Oh, god, I'm going crazy. I need to calm down, but this is not ideal for planning anything.

I choked on a sob as Lotor pulled the knife under the corner of an old scab, just nearly healed, and began peeling it away, just trying to torture me now.

All rational thoughts were gone from my mind, and I was too far down the rabbit hole to get out. Lance couldn't save me this time, Takashi wasn't here to get me out, and Cosmo was anywhere but here.

Wait.

Cosmo. He might be nearby! No, Takashi said he went out on his own. I've got to try, I'm probably about to start hyperventilating. If there's any chance of help, I have to take it.

I forced the burning air into my lungs, that last little bit of hope in me the only thing keeping me going by this point, and-

"COSMO, ATTACK!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Lotor shouted, moving his arm from my shoulder to cover my mouth, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

A loud, scary bark rang around us with the sound of claws hitting the pavement as a large shape came racing around a corner at the mouth of the alley.

"Holy shit-" Lotor was suddenly cut off by the dire wolf-like creature swinging its head to the side, slamming into his side and knocking him off his feet. Cosmo stayed crouched by my side, the scent of blood being an obviously bad sign.

It was like he'd been suffocating me. As soon as Lotor had let go of me, I collapsed to my knees on the pavement as I held my wrist close to my chest.

Gulping in air, I edged back and watched Lotor's body warily, knowing it would only be a matter of time before he got back up again.

And he did.

Rolling onto his side, he pushed himself up unsteadily.

My breathing became shallow and quickened once more as he stood in front of me for a second time, taking one step, two steps closer before Cosmo growled again. He started shuffling to the side, creeping towards the door to get further away from the wolf.

Just as his body blocked my view of the door, the hinges screamed as someone slammed the door open.

"Keith! We heard a yell, are you alright?" My brother demanded, walking out of the back door to the cafe with Lance and Matt. Takashi took the situation in rather quickly. The large canine, his curled up brother, and a man with a knife.

"Get away from my little brother. Now." Shiro ordered. His change in demeanour was instant. He reached into his jacket to pull out a handgun, aiming immediately for Lotor's head.

"You should be pointing your weapon at that dog! It attacked me out of nowhere, while I was standing here alone!" Lotor said, shuffling around as he tried to hide me, still not wanting to lose the upper hand in this situation.

I would be considered the upper hand, in this scenario. If Lotor has me in his grasp, he can use me to manipulate my family and friends through threats of harm. He could make me, and everyone I care for, pawns to his game.

So, I did what any good playing piece would do; I kicked him in the back of the knee.

Caught off guard, Lotor fell forwards and flinched as the feared Black Paladin, leader of Voltron walked up to him with a gun pointed at his face and an aura of murder.

With no other ideas available, Lotor threw himself to the side and took off running for the mouth of the alley, trying to get to the street.

"Cosmo, attack!" Takashi yelled, and the wolf tackled Lotor to the pavement, pinning him to the ground.

Lotor's shouts for help were muffled by fur as Cosmo placed himself carefully on the body, concealing him from sight.

"Keith!" Lance yelled, running towards me with his apron flying around. "Keith, your wrist!"

Lance instantly took control of first aid whilst Takashi dealt with Lotor. He sent Pidge to get a first aid kit and something to mop the blood up with and sat next to me, rubbing my back as he tried to calm me down.

His even voice and soothing hands were reassuring, yes, but they didn't do much to stop the panic rushing through my veins.

"Keith, are you going to be alright?"

Everything that had happened finally seemed to catch up to me as the tears clinging to my eyes finally began to fall again. I was still trembling, and I had to force myself to breathe. I'm sure I looked like a mess.

Taking in another shaky breath, I nodded my head 'yes,' reaching up to wipe away the watery liquid from my face. I couldn't help but laugh pathetically as it did nothing, more tears running down to replace the ones I'd rubbed away.

I turned my wrist over so the scars and blood faced me, looking at the reminders that would never fade, never let me forget the last five years.

Lifting my head to look at Lance, I said, "Yeah, I'll be alright. I just need some time."

His eyes drifted from my face to my bloodied arm. He reached out, placing his hand on my forearm. I cringed as his fingers brushed the edges of the old wounds reopened, and immediately his fingers uncurled. His hand moved to mine to hold my wrist out, and I realized that Pidge had already returned with a bowl of warm water and the first aid kit.

"It stings, doesn't it?" He asked, moving the bowl under my arm.

"A bit," I said, wincing as Lance wiped away the blood, disinfected the wound, and wrapped my arm with gauze and bandages. He seemed to know what he was doing.

Takashi was making several calls, and I heard the name Thurgaz being mentioned more than once.

It seems the Blades of Marmora, and possibly Voltron, are up and running again.

"Yes, I will deliver the Prince child there in about half an hour. Please be on standby for any updates. I want him celled and interrogated," Takashi said, thanking the person on the other line once more and hanging up.

He walked over to me and Lance, the worried expression having returned to his face.

But before he could say anything, Matt and Pidge finally broke. They needed answers, and practically started and finished each other's sentences.

"Who is this guy?"

"Why did he hurt Keith?"

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Should we call the police?" They questioned.

"Hey, now, calm down. This is a part of a... A project of sorts that Keith and I are in. We can't get you involved, it's dangerous. I'm not sorry that we're keeping you out of this," my brother explained, giving Matt a kiss on the cheek and Pidge a look of I-Know-You-Are-Not-Going-To-Shut-Up-But-Please-Do.

"Keith, are you alright? Is it okay if I take the Prince kid over to the Blades' base?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine, you're leaving me in good hands." I have a quick smile that I hoped was reassuring, thought about it for a moment, and had an idea.

"Actually, can we keep Cosmo here? I'll feel better if there's a wall of fur to keep me safe." Everyone seemed to be amused by how serious I was about what I'd just said.

Shiro blinked a few times, and a little smile broke out across his face.

"Sure, he probably wants to stay with his mama anyways. He just needs to keep sitting there for another minute or two so I can get the car over here and get the Prince to where he needs to be. So. Matt, come with me. I'll explain while we drive, but don't get out until we're back home. Keith, we'll see you later. Don't push yourself too much," He reminded, taking Matt's hand and nodding towards Lance and Pidge.

"Cosmo, stay. Bye, Takashi. See you for dinner." I gave him a quick wave goodbye before clutching my arm back to my chest.

"Welp," Lance said as we headed back inside, now listening to Pidge complain about not getting an explanation, "Allura! We're going to head home. We have some dinner to cook."

She glanced over at us, a look of confusion and why do I put up with you on her face.

"And would anyone like to explain why everyone needed to be in the back?"

"The Prince mission came back to haunt us, and luckily, Lance seems to know his way around first aid kits," I explained quietly.

Allura paled, her eyes widening as she looked us all over again.

"Are you okay? Do I need to contact anyone?" She asked, her eyes narrowing at the sight of bandages on my arm.

"Lance took care of the wounds, and Shiro is taking the suspect to the Blades. Is there any chance we can maybe get a break, just for a few minutes?"

Allura let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders relaxing as she dragged a hand over her face.

"You two can leave early, Pidge, you can take another break, if you need to. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get out of that situation?"

There was a scratching at the back door, and I opened it, letting Cosmo stick his head in.

"Cosmo," I said simply, curling my left hand into the fur on his neck to comfort myself.

Allura sighed again, this time more like she didn't know how she got into this mess.

"Just- Go home and rest. Don't come to work tomorrow, Keith, not until your arm is doing better."

"'Kay." Lance said, guiding me out the door and towards his bike, "c' mon Keithy, we'll get you a snack and some medicine, and I shall cook."

"Hey," I said, "I wanna cook, too. Cooking makes me calm. When things don't catch on fire. And don't call me Keithy."

He smirked.

"Alright, Keithy."

I shook my head, "You are so strange, but, like, in a weirdly cute way."

We both froze. Crap. I said that out loud.

It was silent for a moment.

Lance laughed awkwardly, stalling as he tried to think of an answer.


	17. The Gay Table Screeching

Lance POV

Wait. Keith just called me cute. Holy fuck. I hope my face isn't bright red.

Quick, Lance, you gotta say something to throw him off, something as straight as you aren't.

"You're not too bad looking yourself."

God damn it.

"I think that's up for debate," Keith countered.

"...What?"

"I think it's up for debate that I'm 'not too bad looking myself,' as you put it," he explained to me.

"I'll set you up with a mirror when we get home, and you can rethink what you've said after that."

Wait. That didn't sound very straight. I mean, he already knows I'm bi, but he doesn't know how much more gay he makes me. How can I get out of this situati-

"Why are you muttering to yourself in Spanish?" Keith effectively cut across my thoughts.

"Do you want soup or Kraft Dinner when we get home?" I asked, which was definitely not to change the subject.

"Which does this mirror of yours prefer?"

There was an awkward silence as neither of us wanted to mention anything about what we'd just said.

"Well, would you look at that! Here we are, at my bike."

"Agree to never talk about this conversation again?"

"Agreed."

We started driving back to my apartment, listening to the sounds of the people going about their lives with no idea about the strange gang war going on in their neighbourhoods.

"...You weren't serious about making soup or Kraft Dinner, were you?" Keith asked.

"I don't have enough KD to feed six people, and I don't think that stuff is good for dogs. Wolves. Canine creatures. Most animals in general."

"Humans are animals."

"And it's probably not very good for us, either. Besides, I said 'in general,' so it doesn't matter. Maybe humans are aliens."

"Wait, fuck, I left my knife in the staff room!" Keith shouted suddenly.

"Ouch." I commented, rubbing my ear he had just yelled right next to.

He muttered a quick apology as he thought about the situation.

"I'll ask Pidge to bring it over when she comes for dinner," I reassured.

"Thanks," he sighed. Everything about him in that moment just seemed to tired and spent, like he needed a break from life in general. He probably did, after the last five years.

"I think I'm just going to sit down for a minute, after we get back," he told me.

"Sure, you really do just need to relax for a bit." I was hoping that having our friends over for dinner would help remind him that he's safe, and I really didn't want to make him more stressed than he already was.

"Yeah, too bad life never slows down enough to let me," he sighed, trying to lighten the mood with an empty laugh.

I did my best to ignore the butterflies in my stomach as he rested his head on my shoulder, wrapping his arms more tightly around me. His raven hair tickled my neck, and I could just barely feel his heart beating against my back.

We arrived to the apartment and I gently guided him up the stairs, avoiding his injured arm like the plague.

We got to the door, I blinked in surprise at what I found, and Keith just smiled.

"Good boy, Cosmo."

I watched as the fluffy monster sitting outside my apartment started panting happily, tail hitting the floor repeatedly as he expressed his joy.

"Does Cosmo just... Always know where you are?"

"He's a great tracker, and I've been here quite a bit lately. Thanks again, for letting me stay."

"Hey, don't worry about it, you and Cosmo are welcome to stay for as long as you need to. Still," I smiled as I unlocked the apartment.

Opening the door for Keith, I was about to follow until I realized his 'son' had yet to move.

Cosmo just looked at me, his head tilted to the side like he was asking a question. It took a moment, but I did realize what he was asking.

"You too, Cosmo. Inside!" I told him, hoping he would understand.

So, there was now an injured person who could probably pass for an RPG character if he dressed up like an assassin and some sort of blue-ish wolf creature who can open doors in my home.

"Thanks, Lance," he said as he fell onto the couch, biting his lip when he jostled his arm too much.

I watched, not knowing what to do, as he placed the wounded limb on his chest and closed his eyes.

I stood there for about five minutes, just watching his breathing and thinking about what just happened.

Eventually, I started to feel like a creep just standing there and grabbed my journal from where I'd left it on my beanbag chair before sitting on the floor in front of the couch.

Pidge makes fun of me and calls it a diary, but it helps me process confusing things. When I liked Allura, I wrote about it every day until failing to confess when she read the book that I had brought to work.

We're cool now, turns out she's polysexual and we chit chat  
a lot.

I wrote about everything that Keith had caught me up on, even our conversation after.

Wait. Was he flirting with me?! Am I that dense?

I looked back up at Keith. He looked so angelic when he was asleep, when he didn't have to worry about anything. His hair framed his face beautifully, as much as I still wanted him to get a haircut, and everything about him just seemed so gentle. At peace. Perfect, in all his little imperfections.

I don't know how long I studied his face, but I snapped out of it when I heard his voice.

"Lance? Why are you so close to my face?" A groggy voice asked, filled with confusion.

I shook from my daze and practically flew across the room, my face bright red.

He yawned and got up, stretching.

"Well," he started, moving into the kitchen, "shall we start on dinner?"

"Yeah, sure, what are you planning?"

"...I wasn't planning."

"Oh. Okay, any ideas now?"

"Let's see." He decided, opening a random door and digging around with his uninjured arm for a moment.

I turned away for a moment, and a small shout of victory made me turn back around immediately.

"So, Lance, do you have a rice cooker, or are we doing this on the stove?"

"Who are you doing on the stove?"

We took a moment to rethink what I said.

"That wasn't what I meant to say."

"Um- yeah, I mean- I kinda guessed that...?" It seemed like Keith had been going for more of a well, obviously, kind of tone, but it ended up being more of a flustered question.

"I mean, I do have a rice cooker, if you need it, which apparently you do, since- I'll just shut up and get the thing."

I shuffled into the kitchen, opening one of the cabinets under the counter to pull out the rice cooker.

"We're just full of awkward today, aren't we?" I commented (awkwardly).

"I'm blaming it on shock, since, y'know," Keith muttered back, waving his right arm around for a moment.

Setting down our source of current conversation, I turned to Keith again.

"Hey, we aren't going to mention that tonight, alright? You don't need to worry about him anymore. I understand you still probably will, no one can just forget about something like that, but tonight is just that. Tonight. It'll just be Pidge, Matt, Hunk, Shiro, you, and me."

I jumped, yelping as a deep woof was woofed beside me.

"Yeah, yeah, you're here too, danger floof. I'm still kinda scared of you, but if anything happens, I'm sure you'll protect us all."

"Aren't danger floofs supposed to be bears?" Keith questioned.

Looking at Keith silently, I blinked before turning my head to look at Cosmo for a moment, also beginning to wonder how the giant canine had gotten so close to me so silently.

Returning my gaze to Keith, I said, "I'm pretty sure the words 'danger floof' apply to Cosmo as well as bears. If that makes Cosmo a bear, well, I guess you'd better stop telling people you have a dog."

Keith sighed with a small smile on his lips, looking down at his fur ball friend, and went back to whatever he had been pulling out earlier.

"Wha- Hey, I thought we were having a conversation!"

"We were, and now we're making dinner. Like I said, it helps calm me down."

"Fine. What's the plan?"

As the rice cooked, Keith prepared a couple sauces on and off the stove while I cut up a variety of different things he had pretty much thrown at me from the fridge.

"So," I tried again, "do I ever get to find out what we're making?"

"Bowls."

"And that means...?"

"You'll see," he stated ominously as he poured something out of a measuring cup. He seemed to be doing pretty well, despite the fact that he was stuck using his non-dominant hand.

And so, I went back to chopping celery.

By the time we had finished everything, there was a multitude of vegetables, a few different sauces, beef teriyaki, and some weird sesame chicken thing that Keith claimed was good.

Just as we had set everything up on the counter, I heard my window slide open.

"What the fuck?" Keith asked as he looked to the only window that didn't have plants near it.

"Pidge," I started, not even glancing up, "I've told you at least ten times to use the door instead of crawling through the window."

"Actually, you've told me twenty-three times now, and I only do it to annoy you."

"What's wrong with you?" Keith demanded as we watched Pidge drop to the floor.

"Depends on your definition of normal, scary boy, and here's your knife," Pidge grinned.

"My definition of normal is pretty strange compared to what most people would think, but even I think it's weird for you to be crawling through the window. Thank you for the knife."

"The first time she did that was a complete accident, however hard to believe that is," I pitched in.

"I don't think I'm even going to ask," Keith sighed.

There was a knock at the door, and we all watched as Cosmo walked over and used his front paws to twist the door handle before pushing his nose into the newly created space, nudging the door with his snout.

"And this is inside, where there's more plants than outside!" Hunk welcomed Matt and Shiro cheerily.

Hunk then looked down and blinked a few times when he realized who had opened the door.

"Oh. Uh, how did you get in here?"

"This is Keith's son, Cosmo," Matt explained helpfully.

"Yeah, you've lost me. Why is there a giant dog in Lance's apartment?"

"Keith saved a wolf a few years ago, and now he follows him everywhere unless he's told to do something else. This is Cosmo, he's friendly, he opens doors, and is very fluffy," Shiro much more helpfully explained.

"Nice explanation, Takashi," Keith said, very carefully drying his right hand after washing it.

Keith began setting all the things that we had prepared along with six empty bowls on the counter top.

"So, the basic idea is that you put rice in your bowl then put whatever you want on it. I would give you guys chopsticks, but I couldn't find any in Lance's house."

I scoffed. "Yeah, and you never will. As if I would ever have any of those torture instuments."

He smiled a ominous smile. "Now that I live here, there will be chopsticks. Tonight we can use the ones that I stole/got from my ex's house. He may have been a horrible person, but he can use chopsticks."

The group laughed, although Pidge and Hunk both looked confused. They laughed anyways.

We all grabbed bowls and made our dinners.

We all ended up sitting wherever we wanted; Pidge sat on the floor with Cosmo, Matt and Shiro on the couch, and Hunk, Keith and I took on the barstools. Conversation struck as we enjoyed our meal, and soon the food was completely gone.

Keith POV

After finishing dinner, we found ourselves moving into the living room, sitting on any surfaces around the table in the center of the space.

Noticing my brother sitting at the right side of the couch, I decided to fulfill my duty as a younger sibling (according to Pidge and Matt), and do my best to annoy Takashi.

Taking a seat at his left side, I used his arm as a backrest, leaning against him as I stretched out my legs in front of me.

He somehow managed to weasel his arm out from between his torso and my back without relocating either of us, and wrapped his now-free limb around my shoulders, trapping me where I was. It was comfortable and warm, though, so I let it slide.

"Say, Shiro," Pidge asked from across the table, "Do you have any need-to-know stories about Keith?"

"Hey, wait, if Shiro is telling you about some stupid thing I did when I was nine, Matt is telling us about something you did, too," I snapped sassily.

"Deal, but Matt, not the story about the tree, that isn't really the best conversation to have right after dinner, or in any situation," Pidge agreed.

"Well then, I would like to go first!" Matt declared excitedly.

"Be my guest," Shiro smiled.

Pidge seemed to realize that Matt had something planned, and immediately slouched down with an exaggerated sigh.

"Hoboy, this'll be fun," she stated sarcastically

"Have you ever heard the story of Pidge's only camping trip?" Matt quizzed.

"Wait, what? Pidge has been camping?" Hunk joked.

"Unfortunately, I have," Pidge scowled. "It sucked."

"Yes it did, Pidge. It was the worst camping trip ever," Matt reminisced.

"Well, Matt, do tell!" Lance grinned. He clearly just wanted payback for Story Three.

"So, our family is on a camping trip to Canada for a week, which Pidge was actually quite excited about, this being her first time going camping and all. Also, there were marshmallows and fire, so that might've been the cause of excitement.

"Anyways! Let's skip along to the fourth day of our six day camping trip. Pidge realized she doesn't like camping, and is very unhappy at this point. The only part of the day she was enjoying was campfire, because that's always one of the most exciting things as a kid, right?

"I was also very excited about the fires, so we made a plan. After our parents went to sleep, we took the box of matches, some paper, and the extra wood, and we restarted the fire. Eventually that got a bit boring, because we didn't have the marshmallows. This is how Pidge ended up lighting sticks and waving them around. In a forest. During summer. In British Columbia, where it is very common for forest fires to start around August, which is when we were there.

"However, we did not start a forest fire, nope! But Pidge did drop a burning stick, and, since we were about seven and thirteen at the time, her first reaction was to grab the fiery wood out of the air, which, as we all know, is an amazing idea! Right?

"But fire hurts, as we also know, so Katie's first reaction was to throw the burning stick as far away as possible. And this is, in short, how my sister yeeted a fire at our parents' tent.

"We were tiny idiots, we had no idea what to do. The tent was on fire, and I remember clearly, that was the first time Pidge cursed out loud. We're just standing around, staring at the tent, and she just looked at me and said 'Well, fuck. What now?' And I was in shock! Wherever had the innocent smol bean who'd been suspended in kindergarten for beating up a kid who made fun of her shirt learned the word fuck?"

"From you, dumbass," Pidge cut in.

"False accusation. I never cursed in front of you until you were thirteen. I didn't want to teach you-"

"That time you found a bottle of vodka and thought it was funny tasting water, Matt. You walked into a wall and- somehow- dislocated your shoulder, remember?"

"Ah, yes. That was a painful hangover. Anyways, back to stories of burning down campsites! Our parents woke up to find their tent on fire, as their kids just stood there freaking out. So, they were just kinda looking around for something to put the fire out with, when the dog, who is still in the tent, starts to bark. I mean, we left him in the burning tent! I would start yelling if I was stuck in a fire!

"Pidge is really protective of our dog, and always has been, so she just- Like- Seriously, that was the fastest I'd ever seen her move, she pretty much just teleported to the tent, dove in, grabbed the dog, and leaped back out, covered in soot.

"We finally managed to put the fire out, Pidge decided to never go camping again, gave Bae Bae some chicken, and we went to the hospital. They gave Pidge a teddy bear. Needless to say, we went back home after that. And now Bae Bae is scared of the grill, and the oven!"

"It's kinda cute, actually," Shiro commented. "Cosmo went over to him when the oven was on, just picked him up by the scruff, and dragged him to the couch."

"But yeah, that's the story of how Pidge burned all out camping supplies."

"I didn't burn all the matches, we had two left, and the cooler made it out unscathed."

"Shut up. Shiro, you wanna tell a story about Keith now?"

Shiro thought for a moment, going through all the minorly stupid things I'd done throughout my life.

"I could tell the story of how Keith almost killed someone with a pair of chopsticks, or how he came out as gay."

"We all love gay stories," Pidge decided.

"How do you almost kill a person with a pair of chopsticks?" Hunk seemed to be reconsidering everything he knew about life.

"Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda probably could. Anyways, we do all love gay stories," Lance reassured.

"Well then, here's the story of the first time my brother had access to a bar," Shiro started, totally deadpan.

I watched in horror as Shiro pulled out his phone. He still had videos of that night, the one that had changed my life forever.

"Wait, I thought this was about how he came out?" Lance interrupted.

"They're the same story, now shut up so Takashi can get the story out of the way and I can go die of embarrassment." I buried my face in my hands, hoping that I could hide my blush.

"So," Shiro began, "Keith wasn't legally allowed to drink at this point in time, but the Blades of Marmora and Voltron had just finished an extremely important mission, and everyone really just needed to unwind.

"For some reason, it was decided that we would rent out a bar for the night. There were people who'd worked as bartenders before, and they somehow managed to convince the owners to let us have full control. None of their staff were there.

"I was twenty-three at the time, and Keith was sixteen, but in Canada, the legal drinking age is nineteen or eighteen, depending on where you go, so the Canadians figured that, being sixteen and in a relatively safe place, Keith should try alcohol.

"It didn't help that everyone else joined in, even though our Canadian friends were just going to let him have a beer or two and call it a night, because Keith ended up doing shots of tequila. And the Australians still wonder why I don't trust anyone to take care of Keith.

"Once he was about seventeen shots in, I finally found my brother, realized almost immediately that he was drunk off his ass, pulled him out of his drinking game, and made him drink a pitcher of water. He snuck off again, and the bartender decided he needed more alcohol, so by the time that he moved away from the bar, he'd had about thirty drinks too many.

"The next time I spotted him, he was stumbling up to the head of the Blades' medical branch, Ulaz, and their best engineer, Thace, who were having a conversation. And, well, I actually managed to record it."

Hitting the play button, Shiro turned his phone around to show us the video.

We watched as I wobbled over to Thace and Ulaz, throwing my arms around them both in a bear hug.

"Look, I just wanna tell you two how much I love you, y'know? Like, you're so fucking awesome, like, you're awesome as people, you're awesome together, and I just really appreciate you. Y'know, I mean, Thace, you're like my cool uncle, and you're really smart, and your hair is so fucking soft, and you make sure I eat, and you always help everyone, and Ulaz, you fucking saved my life, dude, y'know, that time I got shot in the leg, and I that was when you realized I'm scared of needles? You're so nice, and you really care about people, and you've dedicated your entire life to saving people... I fucking love you guys, seriously."

By the end of the 'speech' I'd started crying into Thace's shoulder, continuing to ramble about how great they both were.

Finally, the video ended. But there had to be more, Takashi still hadn't mentioned the 'confessions' I'd given him, Kolivan, Regris, or Antok. Or 'The Gay Table Screeching,' as the Blades had dubbed it.

I looked around the table, and all my friends were laughing to some degree at the drunken comedy they'd just seen.

"There's still more, guys, chill," Shiro commented.

"Holy crap," Matt wheezed, "Shiro, you invited me to that, why the hell did I leave early?!"

"If I remember correctly, you said something about your 'dumbass-gremlin sister stuck in a fucking tree,'" I pitched in.

"Oh, shit, that's why you were drunk?!" Pidge realized.

"Can I continue my narration, guys?" Shiro interrupted.

"Please, we would love to hear the rest of the story," Hunk grinned.

"Good, I was worried you were getting bored. I'm not as funny as Matt."

"Okay, after Keith ranted about how awesome Thace and Ulaz are... Right. I went to go check on him, because he was clearly wasted, and would probably get sick soon, but he just hugged me and started talking about how he wants to go back to Japan, and wants a dog or something like that. He did end up getting a dog, and the dog takes care of him more than he takes care of the dog. Eventually he just wandered off, and I later heard that he'd gone up to Kolivan, the leader of the Blades of Marmora, Antok, who pretty much teaches all the new Blades to fight and is terrifyingly tall, and Regris, his best friend.

"He found his way back to me, told me I'm a great older brother and started talking about how there's something he really wants to tell everyone, but didn't know if people would treat him differently. I did my best to reassure him that it would be fine, and apparently I did a good job, because he said he was going to tell everyone. At which point, he ended up standing on a table."

Shiro showed us his phone again, and I was faced with a video of The Gay Table Screeching, all recorded by Thace.

"Okay, listen up, bitches and badasses!" I shouted from the table. "I've got an announcement to make, so if y'all could please listen up, I'm also pretty sure I'm drunk!"

All the background noise in the video faded away as people checked to see what the yelling was about.

"Right, so, I'm making an announcement. This is really important to me, so if you could maybe not be all weird about it, that'd be great, because, you may not know this, but I have emotions!" I declared dramatically, nearly falling off the table as I posed drunkenly.

"I am gay, and if anyone has a problem with that, speak up now and we can take this out back. I have a pocket knife and I think I've got a broken lighter I picked up off the street. I'm pretty sure we can fight with those."

"Keith, don't you dare fight anyone, I'm not sober enough to treat knife wounds!" Ulaz cut in.

Pointing at him with a glare, sixteen-year-old me asked, "Who said I would fight with the knife?!"

We could all hear Ulaz's exasperated sigh as Thace muffled his laughter.

Continuing to stumble across the table, my drunken past started ranting about how gay I am.

"Literally, if I wasn't so attached to red and black, I would probably just wear rainbows everyday! I'm so gay that last year, that crooked lamp in the Voltron base? Yeah, that was me, I was the one who set it up. You know why it's so crooked? Because I ain't fucking straight, I'm literally so gay that I can't- fucking- the lamp, it just wouldn't be straight, I spent fifteen minutes putting it together and taking it back apart, so if anyone wants to fix that, it's... not really supposed to be like that. Like, holy shit I'm gay.

"There's this Starbucks that I don't go to anymore, and the reason is as follows: There was this girl there, and apparently she was flirting with me the entire four months I went there for tea. Four months. Four fucking months, and I never realized she was flirting with me, because I am too gay to notice when girls think I'm attractive! Literally, she had to ask me out before I noticed, and I just kinda left a tip and ran. I even left my tea I was so scared. Yeah, that's right, my worst fear is having a girl ask me out, because what am I supposed to do? 'Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you were flirting with me because I was too busy looking at your co-worker Jace's ass.'

"I am so gay that I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. My spirit animal is literally a rainbow, and rainbows aren't even animals, like, bitch? What? Yeah, that's how gay I am. Sometimes I go to parks to do art stuff, because art, and I like to draw plants and animals, my spirit animal in particular, but I also have a page at the back where I keep track of which parks have the most hot guys to stare at while I draw. That's not even a joke. I also have a page for which place has the most queer people, and, literally not kidding, I accidentally helped two girls I met at the parks meet their soulmates. They're so fucking adorable together, and the only thing more adorable than them is their dog, which they named Ace, because one of them is asexual."

A look of realization washed across Lance's face at the mention of lesbian soulmates and a dog.

I paused my rant for a moment to talk to a person sitting at the table.

"Hey, dude, can you get me a glass of water?"

"Uh- Yeah, sure, you want filtered water or tap water?"

"The taps are where they get the beer from, so I guess I'll have filtered water. Thanks man, I love you. No homo, though. But, like, also no hetero."

After a few moments, the man came back with a glass of water.

"Dude, seriously, you're awesome," I thanked him. After that, I chugged about half of the water, before continuing to talk about how gay I am.

"So... Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh! Right! Okay, so, there was this one time that I was out at the mall with my friends- Holy shit, that's right, I have friends- and it was decided that the girls would go to Victoria's Secret, the boys and our non-binary pal would go to some other store, which was probably Hot Topic if I'm being totally honest here, and we would meet at the food court in twenty minutes. For some reason, I thought the ladies were going for ice cream. I'm pretty sure they all knew I was half asleep, but no one bothered to tell me I was going into a women's underwear store.

"It was fine though, we'd gone through a few other stores already, and I'd gotten a rainbow hoodie that says 'GAY' and a hat that says 'Fuck You,' so the people there didn't bother me. Yeah, I got weird looks, but that's not the point. While we were there, the only thing that I said was 'Honey, that colour does not work with your skin tone.' That's how gay I am. Legit, never questioned why we weren't going for ice cream, even though I'm lactose intolerant, never asked if I could go join the people not going into Victoria's Secret, just helped a woman avoid a disaster.

"I got caffeine after that, so it was all fine. Y'know, except for the really fucking cute guy who looked me in the eye, made a point of glancing obviously up at my hat, and casually said, 'Wouldn't mind if you did,' while we were at the food court. You know how Crayola has all those weird colour names, like 'Old Car Blue,' or 'Sidewalk Grey'? There's probably one out there called 'Keith's Gay Blush.' It's just- The brightest red known to humans. Whatever. That guy was really hot though...

"Anyways, I am so gay that I can spot something with a rainbow on it from like, the other side of a football field. Example: I'm walking casually through the mall with my friends, and we're walking past the bookstore. Out of the corner of my eye, literally, if my head had been facing any further to the left, I would have missed it, there is this book with a rainbow spine, three aisles to the right, fourth shelf up, and I just walk away from my friends to go investigate. I turned so fast that my shoes squeaked. And we were on the other side of the hall, or whatever those giant empty spaces are."

At this point, I chugged the other half of my water, and looked at the plastic cup thoughtfully before deciding to chuck it into the crowd.

"Y'know what, I wanna show y'all something, is that alright?"

Glancing around, still looking like I was ready to fall off the table every time I moved, my younger self finally jumped off the table, muttering something incoherent.

Interrupting the video, I hit Shiro's phone off the table, not ready for anyone to see the next thing that happened.

"Wh- Keith, what're you doing?" Lance asked, getting up as the phone skidded across the floor.

"Don't worry, Lance, I'll get it." Shiro reassured, directing an apologetic smile my way. "Keith, just let them watch, you're way better than you give yourself credit for. Besides, that was when you were drunk, I've seen what you can do if you're sober."

"Yeah, whatever, you guys watch the reason I don't sleep at night, I'm going to the bathroom," I grumbled, trying to stop the flustered blush rising to my face.

Walking away as quickly as I could, I did my best to block out the sounds coming from the recording.

How does Shiro's phone even have any memory left with that video on it?

"Wait, Keith can play the piano?!" I heard Lance cry in disbelief. Letting out a silent scream, I accepted the fact that I was probably going to die of embarrassment when I got back to the living room.

Hiding my face in my hands, I waited for my self-sentenced banishment to end.

Laughter made its way through the door, drowning the music out momentarily. The sound of the piano crept back to the foreground of the painting of sounds, and my ears recognized the tune of the chorus. It seemed like they'd just finished the first verse.

In a half-assed attempt to distract myself from the current situation, I decided to test my knowledge on Queen. I tried to name all the songs in A Night at the Opera. After that, I moved to The Game, News of the World, and finished with their self-titled album, Queen, before tuning back in to what was happening with my friends.

Fucking hell, I didn't die before it ended. What're the chances of that? I managed to prolong my life by about six minutes, lucky me.

"Keith, you still alive in there?" Hunk checked, knocking on the door.

"No, I am definitely not alive! Just put the body on ice, you can make some money on the black market!" Was my totally serious reply.

"I'll give you a cookie if you come out," he bartered.

"Didn't you watch the videos? I already did come out," I complained.

Reconsidering for a moment, I added, "And sang My Whole Family... by Bo Burnham in front of about more people than I am comfortable to admit I know."

"I'll give you a cookie if you come back to the living room with me," he rephrased.

"And what will happen if I don't?" I tested.

Next thing I knew, Takashi had busted in to the bathroom, and was carrying me over his shoulder, forcing me back to the living room.

"That's not fair. You can literally bench press ten children, and you got the jump on me. You and Hunk were working together, weren't you?" Yes, I was acting like a whiny child, but did I care? No. I just didn't want to deal with the fact that everyone had just seen what happens when I get drunk.

"Keith, you're going to play the piano for us," Pidge declared.

I made a point of looking around the room a few times before speaking the obvious.

"Pidge, there isn't a piano here for me to play, even if I did agree to play."

At that moment, Lance came back around the corner with a large box. A large box with a Yamaha keyboard in it, that is.

"You know what? I kinda hate y'all right now."

"Matt, Pidge, you're good with technology, come help me set this up," Lance decided.

"Wha-" Pidge was clearly offended by this. "Hunk is good with technology! Shiro literally has a metal arm! Why does it have to be me?"

"Because," Hunk explained.

"Because what?"

"Quit your whinging!" Matt suggested.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"Nope." Lance agreed.

It took a few minutes, but the keyboard was set up in a corner, waiting to be played.

As everyone looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to play, I did my best to come up with a compelling, intelligent argument for which I could not demonstrate my skills as a musician.

"Bitch, you can't make me."

Until Shiro spoke up.

"I'll sing if you play This Is Gospel."

"Deal."

Sitting at the piano with a sigh, I played the left hand of Heart and Soul to test the weight of the keys, happy to find that it was only a bit lighter than what I was used to.

"Can we run some warmups first?"

"Yeah, but if you make me sing your vocal warmups with you, I'm leaving the country," I agreed.

Two minutes and some giggling friends later, Shiro was ready to sing. Vocal warmups are surprisingly silly sounding.

"Wait. What scale are we doing this in?" I inquired, the sudden realization that I didn't know if Shiro had a plan catching up to me.

"Well, Keith, what scale was it written in?"

"Uh, D Major...?"

"So, what scale are you playing in?"

"Not B Minor."

I tapped my foot a couple times, making sure we had the right tempo. A quick glance at Shiro to make sure he was ready, and I let my left hand sit over the keys as I started the first bar.

"Keith, why are you playing Let It Go?" Shiro interrupted.

"Shut the fuck up and sing, it's been stuck in my head for two days straight."

"According to your younger self, it's a bit more like two days gay," Hunk pitched in. I glared at him half-heartedly.

"Okay, I'll do it, but I'll only sing the Attack on Titan parody about Levi," Shiro decided.

After the song, we moved on to just doing karaoke.

Pidge did some Taylor Swift, which went surprisingly well, and Hunk sang Never Gonna Give You Up, and Rick Rolled us all.

But I drew the line when Lance stood up and sang the Duck Song, or at least, what I thought was the Duck Song. He sang it in Spanish.

"I will hurt you very much if you don't stop, McClain." I threatened, glaring to get the point across.

He stopped.

After another hour or so of laughter and singing, our guests left.

"I'm not too tired Lance, I can clean up. You go get some sleep."

He smiled that adorable smile of his and headed into the bathroom.

I started on the dishes and was about halfway done when he came out.

"Night, Keithy, make sure you get some sleep, okay?" He checked, yawning.

I had no intention of getting sleep, but I promised anyways.

"Okay, see you tomorrow!"

I sighed.

It's going to be a long night.


	18. Crop Tops and Boot Shorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes!

Keith POV

I didn't want to sleep, knowing that l my nightmares would only worsen after recent events, even with Lance there. So after I finished cleaning up, I put my headphones on and turned on some music. I watched a movie after that, then read a book, and rebandaged my arm, but I never allowed my eyes to rest, or my body to relax.

The sunrise was beautiful from the window, and I began to think that maybe my body wouldn't be too upset with the fact that I was running on no sleep, some rice, and a glass of water.

I made an omelette for Lance around 8:00 a.m.

"Hey, Keith. You weren't in bed when I woke up, did you sleep at all?"

Perfect timing, the omelette just finished.

I thought it through in my head. I could lie to him and risk losing his trust, or I get a lecture.

"I didn't sleep."

He turned from his food. "At all?"

"No," I said forcing myself to eat some leftover rice from last night.

My stomach churned as forced the food down my throat.

Lance watched, face painted with worry.

"Wha- Keith! You can't just not sleep! Your body isn't going to work!" He spluttered, clearly anxious.

I turned away, looking out the window. "It's not like my body isn't used to it."

"Yeah, sure. Like it's alright to force your body to get used to the feeling of dying. I've noticed you're eating less than enough to keep a bird alive, but now that you aren't sleeping... You're just- You're falling apart!"

I flinched, the words stinging.

I know I'm hurting myself, but I just can't eat. Even when I think about eating I feel like I'm going to throw up, and I definitely can't get through anything, not even toast. Lack of sleep doesn't really help with that, either.

"Keith? You're spacing out," Lance commented, snapping me back to reality by waving a hand in front of my face.

I shook my head to wake myself up and he huffed at me.

"See? Your body is trying to tell you that it is tired and needs rest. Go to bed."

I shook my head and returned my gaze out of the window.

"You are acting like a child, Keith," Lance pointed out, and I heard him begin to chew.

I turned. "Well, maybe it's because you are treating me like a child. I don't know if you remember, but I was a leader of one of the scariest gangs in San Francisco. So, I would like it if you stopped treating me like I can't handle myself, McClain!" I said, my voice dripping with venom.

He stood his ground for a moment before clearing his plate and heading into the bedroom to get dressed.

With a last glance over his shoulder, he walked back down the hall.

"Sorry for caring."

I clenched my fists, biting my lip.

The cool morning air seemed a welcoming idea, so I made my way out onto the balcony.

Crap. That was an overreaction, I have to stop yelling at people when it can be solved with a simple, Hey, could you treat me like more of an adult? Sure thing!

You idiot, Keith. Messing up yet another relationship.

Trying to shake the negative self talks from my head, I stared out at the city scene before me.

San Francisco. When I moved here from Osaka, I never expected to be greeted with open arms by the Shirogane family. When I was asked if I wanted to change my last name, I denied. I am the Red Paladin, a Blade of Marmora, an agent of freedom, but I always have been, and always will be Keith Kogane, just a kid who tries his best to stand out, help people and make a difference.

I need to work on my habit of denying help when I know I need it, but that's just what I like; being a loner. Not leading anyone, just doing what I think is best for people, cause, and family.

I haven't been active lately, it's probably why I'm so snarky.

I could hear the shower on when I went back inside.

Perfect, I'm not in the mood to talk.Good thing we exchanged numbers, it would be awkward to go in there now.

I grabbed my backpack, shoving a pair of leggings and an athletic shirt into it, along with a full water bottle and my wallet. I had a fair amount of cash from the past five years of dancing.

I grabbed my headphones and walked down to the sidewalk, setting course for a nearby gym I'd frequented before everything with Lotor. Luckily, it was only about a ten minute walk from where I was. I texted Lance, telling him where I was going.

I put my classical music playlist on shuffle, and was greeted with Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E-Flat Major. The quiet, relaxed piano helped me calm down.

When I was a block away from the building, someone walked up to me shyly, their bright blue hair catching my eyes.

I pulled my headphones off to rest around my neck.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but are you Keith Kogane?" They asked. They had a feminine sounding voice, but I didn't wanna make assumptions. Their hair seemed rather non-binary, though their rather revealing shirt showed some more, uh, womanly features than I was comfortable with.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I am. Why...?" I questioned back, suddenly glad that I'd brought my knife along with me, just in case.

"HEY IDIOTS, IT IS HIM!" They yelled back to a group of friends, standing only a little ways away. One of them appeared to be hiding a laugh.

"My name is Margret, my friends and I are huge fans of yours. We were at the club that night when you danced with your boyfriend!" Margret explained excitedly.

"He's not my boyfriend," I answered automatically.

"You sure?" Another one of the teens giggled, "The media really thinks that you two are a couple."

Jeez, I wish. Wait, no, gay thoughts. Stahp. He's more like my therapist now, anyways.

"Well, if you aren't dating, do you maybe want to go get dinner tonight?" Margret asked, trying to show as much cleavage as could be considered alright in public.

Alright, maybe the gay thoughts can come back.

Grasping the first excuse that came to mind, I pulled my arm up to my face, checking a watch that clearly wasn't there.

"Would you look at that, it's almost noon!"

It wasn't even nine in the morning.

"I have to, uh-"

I could hear the concerto Spring, from The Four Seasons, playing from my headphones.

"I have to go meet my friend Vivaldi for dinner!"

I ran.

I arrived at the gym seconds later, paying for a single day pass.

No point in renewing my membership,who knows how much longer Lance will be able to put up with me?

The gym was large, and largely staffed by members of Voltron and the Blades, meaning I could focus entirely on distracting myself. If the Galra attacked, looking for Lotor, they would find a bit more trouble than they bargained for.

About a good forty-five minutes or so later, I called over someone whom I recognized as an agent of Voltron, asking if he wanted to spar. The man, Justin, accepted.

While we were stretching, he filled me in on what I'd missed since I'd lost contact with the Blades.

"So, we're essentially just as we were before the Blades went down, but with better communication and report systems to prevent anything from happening again?"

"Yeah, basically." His voice was crisp and young sounding, like a new book.

"And who is the leader of Voltron?" I inquired, wondering if Takashi had held his position as the Black Paladin.

Justin glanced around for a moment, lowering his voice before continuing.

"He's an intimidating figure, even just talking about him can make people uneasy, and no one knows much about him, but his name is Takashi Shir- Shero-"

He muttered a quiet fuck under his breath, and I decided to help.

"Shirogane. Believe me, he's not as frightening as he seems, especially not when he's with his family. When I first moved in, I was awestruck by every move he made," I said, correcting the pronunciation of his family name, as we often did for each other.

Justin looked up at me. "Sounds like you know him well. Been in Voltron for a while?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but you're kinda forced to see your adopted siblings quite often. Y'know, living together and all."

"Wait, you said your name is Kogane? You're the Red Paladin! I get to spar the Red Paladin!" Justin exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

I smiled awkwardly. "Former Red Paladin. I'm not sure if I'm considered part of Voltron anymore."

"Well, the Trials are happening in about three months, and we don't have a new Red Paladin yet. I'm sure if you ask your brother, he can give you directions to our new location. I am not qualified to share that information."

Three months, huh? I'm sure Shiro can help me train.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Ready to go?" I asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

And so, it began.

We moved to the mats, set up for fighting. I'm not entirely sure how we got liscencing for a fighting area in a gym, or if we even need liscencing, but they're here.

I got into a defensive stance, letting my feet fall to where they were comfortable and supported my weight, raising my arms to protect my head, making it easier to throw punches and block or deflect blows directed towards my head or torso.

Justin was fast, but relied on that too much, trusting he could always get away quickly enough to avoid being hit.

A very good fighter, as always with Voltron, but I didn't become the Red Paladin for nothing.

Justin made a move for my side and, in that brief second of concentration, I swept his legs out from under him, pinning him quickly with a knee to the chest.

"Nice one, Kogane," he commented as I helped him up.

"You're not too bad yourself. Quite fast on your feet," I complimented, but something caught my eye.

Lance was sitting off to the side of the mats, in active wear, wide eyed and slack jawed.

Laughing to myself, I thanked Justin for the spar before walking over to Lance.

"Anything to help a fellow freedom fighter," Justin called out, before walking into the staff room, probably to get water.

"I knew you could fight, but holy crap," Lance said, and I turned my attention back to him. He was in a tee shirt and basketball shorts. He seemed to have no issues with talking to me so quickly after our disagreement.

"Well, someone knows how to hold a grudge," I teased, seeing as he had slammed a door on me in anger just this morning.

Lance rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I can hold grudges, but it's better for me to forgive you and move on."

"Because I'm scary?"

"What? No! Because we're friends," Lance exclaimed, talking with his hands.

"And besides, you aren't scary, I've done taekwondo, I can take you," he declared, puffing his chest out like a tropical bird.

I smiled a you really think? kinda smile, putting my water down.

"Alright then, McClain, do you wanna fight with any weapons, or just hand to hand combat?"

"No weapons, I don't know how to use anything meant for close range except baseball bats. I do archery and go to the local gun range occasionally. A little

hobby of mine."

"Strange hobby." I paused for a moment. "Then again, I once spent all my free time and quite a bit of money to find the best sticky rice in the area, so I'm probably not the best judge for this kind of thing."

He looked confused before laughing and giving me one of his award winning smiles.

"Well, let's see what this Red Paladin can do," Lance said, assuming a stance, smirk in place.

"Oh, you are going down, goofball." I said throwing back the sarcasm as we both watched each other's bodies for signs of future plans.

"I dunno Mullet head. You are tired from your last fight and have a bad arm so, I hope those don't slow you down too much."

I was slightly taken aback, Lance notices more than I expected, maybe he will make a formidable opponent. And the fact that he is trying to make me hot headed by name calling? Very interesting strategies.

We continued to circle each other until Lance made the first move. As if to test the water he made a harp kick towards my head. I grabbed it, and threw him to the ground.

"Oof!"

"My bad. Wanna stop now?" I asked offering a hand.

He ignored I standing on his own, "and let you be the winner? I don't think so buddy."

And so we went on, each match lasting a bit longer than the last, but still, I had three wins and he had none. Nevertheless, Lance showed no signs of giving up.

By now I had gone to full offence and was using Lance as a dummy that could fight back, kinda.

Suddenly I realized that in my lunge towards him he had sidestepped it and kicked me squarely in the back. I fell, turning in the air, his foot landing harshly onto my chest pinning me down.

He leaned in, still with a mischievous smirk on his face,"Gotcha," he said playfully.

Oh, yeah. In more ways than one.

Lance POV

Holy fuck I am going to be bruised, but for the moment, all I am is hungry. I'm sure Keith is too, though he would never show it.

I turned to Keith after grabbing his water bottle, "here, have suuuuuhhhhh."

Apparently he had already taken his shirt off.

Keith seemed like he was put on this planet by some gods who wanted to watch the world stop and crash around their perfect creation. Like Pandora. Practically the definition of perfection, yet so dangerous.

I know we're friends, but couldn't we be friends with benefits?

It wasn't too obvious when he was dressed, but there was definitely muscle on his body. Shiro wasn't kidding about his eight pack, but somehow he still seemed more lithe and quick than strong and burly, like he would be really good at moving his hips, which- I mean, he's a dancer, but he could always move his hips a little differently, right?

Speaking of his hips, can I just mention his ass? His shirt was covering way too much, and he definitely needed to stop wearing baggy clothing. If I could make Keith wear crop tops and really tight short shorts from now on, I would. Actually, no. Anyone and everyone who found guys even the slightest bit attractive would be all over him. If Keith just started wearing crop tops- or maybe no tops at all- and short shorts in the apartment, though- No, I would end up kissing him against a wall and running my hands all over him.

What would that feel like? His body under my hands? His skin looked so smooth, almost perfect, marked with small scratches and the occasional bruise. I wouldn't mind leaving my own marks on his skin. How would his body act under my lips? If I kissed all the way down his torso? Would his back arch up into the touch, or maybe he would freeze up as his breathing quickens, or-

(A/N I asked Jay to make this gayer. He complied.)

"Is there a problem?"

I shook my head no, forcing my eyes to meet his and praying I didn't have a boner.

Sighing, Keith headed into the locker room and I followed suit, taking a quick shower before changing into street clothing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So this is my first author's note because I transferred all of this over from Wattpad (since that site sucks) so I would like to mention that my past editor, who became more of a beta or co-writer, has lost interest. But I still have the plans and I hope to finish this story. I am getting a new Beta, but since my past editor wrote almost all the jokes and such for this so far, the tone is going to change quite a bit. but the storyline should be the same. Anyways peace out, and don't be scared to comment!  
> -Eliza


	19. DRINK ALL THE TEA!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! this is just a quick bit of filler, I am going to post a longer chapter either today or tomorrow!

He came out soon after, also in more relaxed clothing, a simple black shirt, dark grey jeans, fingerless gloves, and his signature red jacket.

“Sooo,” I said sliding up to the ravenette, “wanna get some snacks? All that physical activity must've gotten you somewhat hungry.”

“Yeah, but not hungry for food,” he Keith mumbled under his breath. 

“What was that?”

He turned away from me, “nothing.”

“You sure? Cause it sounded gay.”

He stiffened and I hoped that I hadn't just pushed his buttons too much again.

“Never mind Lance, and could we go back to the house if we are going to eat? I will try some toast there.”

“Perfect!” I exclaimed, pulling him down the street.

We walked for a few minutes, making small talk.

Finally we arrived, taking off our shoes we headed inside.

“Soo, Keithy,” I began, “what do you wanna eat?”

Keith stared at the floor, avoiding meeting my eyes.

“I dunno. Maybe some toast. That's what Shiro would force down my throat make me when I didn't want to eat.”

“Ok, some toast coming right up, with a slight bit of butter and some nice tea. Chamomile okay?”

He nods, sitting down at the bar stools. Then crossed his arms dramatically onto the counter and flopped his head on them.

“I have never felt this dead. Being shot doesn't feel this bad. Arghhhh.” He complained after a minute of silence, I walked over and rubbed his back softly.

“Once you feel better, we are going to get more into your past,” I decided.

If the bitch has been shot, who knows what else? Toture maybe. I should write a book.

He lifted his head and shook it, “Nuh uh. I have had two sad backstory talks with you present. It's your turn, The ball is in your court. At least explain your scars.”

I paused, contemplating my options. I might as well.

Walking back into the kitchen, I poured the tea into my favourite tea pot, it was matching to the blue slippers Keith loved to ridicule, and put the toast on a plate.

“Fine, but first we are going to watch some Disney movies. It's only noon and I feel backstory are better at night.” 

He shrugs, “ok, do I have to eat food?” 

I give him the look that I copied right off of Hunk. It meant simply, I hate you right now, but am also worried.

He grabbed some of the toast and nibbled on it like a little mouse.

*time skip because I feel like Keith is the person who hasn't seen the lion king *

It's now around nine at night, we binged a crap ton of movies. Keith ate a piece of toast, and I made a sandwich for dinner.

It is now a Jasmine tea that sits before us and I have only a corner lamp on, giving a nice and calm feeling to the living room.

It's now or in a week or so, Lance.


	20. holy fuck my life broke/oh boy! backstory!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gore and Self harm trigger warning

Lance POV

“Now it’s going to start by sounding stupid,” I said to Keith, the warm night air filling the room, “but inside I am an emotional person and little things tend to hurt.”

“What’s going to sound stupid?” Keith asked, looking at me with his bright eyes.

“My backstory, idiot. You asked about the scars so, and you deserve to know.” 

He nodded and drank some of the jasmine tea we were sharing.

Taking a deep breath I began.

“So I had a pretty big family, all living in one house in Cuba for as long as I can remember. My mama and papa worked very hard to keep the house running smoothly, but because of all that work, they had trouble paying attention to all their children equally. So I let them focus on Veronica, Luis and Marco more since they are older they needed more help with things like driving, dating, choosing a course for school. And that was fine. I spoke a lot with Luis my older brother. My siblings were all older than me and even though I knew that they needed attention, I wanted to outshine them. Never really did though.”

Keith nodded, maybe he was wondering what it would be like to grow up with this kind of family. The not dead kind.

“But Cuba is a poor country and a big family was hard to sustain. So all of us kids pulled our weight, either with helping around the house or working,” I let my body relax on the armrest of the couch.

“But it’s hard to fit work and school together. It was only fate that something would happen. After a long night shift, I had arrived at school to realize that the final exams for math and science were happening. With no preparation, I tried my best but failed both.”

“Now this doesn’t seem like a big deal but it took a lot of work just to graduate high school. So I was left with little job opportunities.”

I paused to some of the room temperature tea, “basically all my friends got into a job or college. But I really wanted to live in America, getting a job or getting a scholarship there was practically the only ticket.”

“So I talked to my brother Luis more, he was my hero kinda life coach. He said I should start applying for schools and working on my English.”

I shrugged, “So I did.” 

“My brother had already gotten a job in Canada and was moving there soon. By now he was basically my therapist so I was sad, to say the least, to see him leave. “

I took a breath the memory itself hurting, “The day after he left I got a letter. From the parent of a very good friend of mine.”

My hand shook as the memory washed over me, “It said. It said that he had hanged himself at college.”

I looked up at a hand touching mine and met eyes with Keith.

“That must’ve hurt a lot,” He said softly.

“Yeah, it did. First emotionally than physically. I thought less about my actions after that, I was basically a ghost. One day, I had been bored and was taking apart a razor for the fun of it. But when the blades fell out one grazed my wrist pretty bad. But I watched it bleed. It made me feel control over my life again, control over my mind. A month later I had bandages going up and down each arm, but wore light long sleeves to cover them. My parents didn’t notice which pushed me down further.”

“I had given up on a school in America and instead was looking for a job. I applied in the big cities, like New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. Eventually, I got an email. From the owner of a cafe that was soon to open wanting to do a video interview. The cafe was in San Francisco. I got the job, finally. “

“The owner, his name was Rolo but the owner is Coran now, offered to pay for me to move. On one condition. That my English was perfect with only a faint hint of accent.”

“So I tried so so hard. My family was having trouble talking to me because I only spoke in English. My depression fell further as I began to believe that I would never get the job.”

I was aware of Keith’s hand rubbing mine gently but I let it be.

“I sent in a video of me practicing my English. That night before bed to calm down I decided to take a bath. I was shaving and nicked my legs, as I watched the water turned red, so I did it again and again and again, My last memory of that day was my sister coming and screaming for mom.”

Keith was full-on holding my hand now, staring into my eyes.

“I woke up in the hospital my family around me.”

“And?” He asked, “How did you get here, to America?”

“Well, the ownership changed and Coran hired me despite my slight accent. Turns out the other guy was racist. Who've guessed? I have lived here for about a year but those three scars and a few more on my side and thighs haven’t faded. Leaving me with a horrible memory.”

Then Keith did something unexpected, he hugged me. 

We sat there for a few minutes before he pulled away and cleaned up the teacups, “Well Lance if you ever want to talk, I am here.”

“Thanks that means a lot,” I said stretching.  
“We should probably get to bed soon.” 

“Yeah.”

Keith POV

“ Keith, I'm just gonna have a bath before bed,” Lance said, walking into the tiny bathroom.

I guess it's just normal that we sleep together, now. Not like that! Just in the same bed! Argh, why do I think of this stuff?

I headed into the bedroom and changed into my pyjamas; a pair of sleep shorts and white tank top. I checked that I had water before climbing into bed.

My head was still trying to wrap around what my roommate had told me. How could someone so carefree and happy as Lance have such a troubled, dark past?

Sighing, I curled into a ball around my wrist, trying to get as small as possible. We had gotten rid of the heavier blankets in favour of a sheet, due to the hot weather.

My body practically melted into the mattress. I guess not sleeping and barely eating probably wasn't the best for me, but it's not like I wasn't used to it by now.

I closed my eyes, praying the night terrors that plagued my mind would ignore me for even a single night.

Sleep hit me like a brick, and I fell into the warm night.

I opened my eyes blearily, blinking away the sleep. The room was still dark, but a dim light shone through the doorway, coming from the bathroom.

“Lance? Are you still up?”

There was nothing but a low, soft hum from the bathroom fan.

“Lance?”

I walked into the hallway, sipping my water.

“Hey, I'm coming in,” I warned, knocking on the door.

I froze as I walked in.

The cup shattered as it hit the floor, water and glass racing across the tiles.

There was Lance, sleeves rolled up as he lay in a bathtub of red and blood, a razor set on the side near his hand. His arms floated in the red liquids, cut open and bleeding, dead eyes staring up at the ceiling. His chest didn't move as the water slowly continued to darken.

“No. No, no, no. This isn't happening, I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming.”

But I recognized the smell of blood and death so clearly from my years in the Blades, and it seemed all too real as it hung in the air.

I stumbled out of the bathroom, glass crunching painfully under my feet, and the sound, the scents, the way familiar sting of pain in my foot were too realistic, but it had to be a dream. This couldn't be happening.

I ran to the living room, glancing around frantically for anything to prove that none of this was real

The TV was on, set to the news.

“Today, a man named Takashi Shirogane was arrested. Shirogane is believed to be the leader of the gang Voltron,” the anchor said, butchering the name.

“He has been sentenced to life in prison for the selling of illegal items, murder, and kidnapping, among many other accusations.”

No. Those were all things he had stopped, he hadn't done any of that. There wouldn't be any way to prove it, right? So why-?

“The Prince family is offering to contain Shirogane, though their reasons for doing so are unknown.”

Prince.

The Prince family runs the Galra. My brother would be in the hands of the enemy.

Shiro would be tortured and killed.

Fuckity fuck fuck.

I heard something outside, drawing me to the window.

There’s no way this is real, all this happening at once? It has to be a dream, this would never happen. Lance wouldn't do that to himself, Takashi is too smart to end up framed for anything. None of this is real.

But the things I was smelling, hearing, and seeing were so realistic.

Too realistic to be fake.

Looking out the window, I could just barely see something moving outside.

Peering out cautiously, I waited for my eyes to adjust.

About fifteen people stood in the street, just out of reach of the street light. I could only see them from the faint purple glow on their uniforms.

Galra.

“Red Paladin!” A deep voice called, “come out.”

Resisting the powerful urge to yell ‘I’m gay!’ at the figures on the road, I started backing away slowly, hoping without reason they hadn't spotted me. 

“Let me rephrase that; Come down, or I kill him,” the man said, stepping into the light.

My breath caught in my throat. It was Zarkon, the leader of the Galra, throwing my brother to the ground in front of him.

Shiro pushed himself slowly back to his knees, a grimace of pain crossing his face, only to be kicked back down.

“Keith! Run! Don't come down, they’ll just kill you, too!”

Why is no one calling the police?! Can no one hear him?!

To my brother’s dismay, I made my way slowly down to the sidewalk.

“Let him go.” I tried to make it seem like there was a plan, but I knew I was failing miserably. The fear was creeping into my voice, and my hands started shaking.

Looking around, it only took a moment to realize how stupid it was to come down here. I was quickly surrounded, and I had no weapons.

I tried to calm my heart and mind by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

The effect was the opposite.

An image of Lance, the boy I had stupidly opened my heart to, an image of his dead eyes, his lifeless body, his pooling blood appeared in my mind.

The image came with a simple thought.

You failed him.

You failed him.

I could feel my legs give out beneath me, but I didn't really feel it. All I could feel was the hope draining from me, and it was all just so real. 

Too real.

It was real.

I sat there, numb and surrounded by enemies, the image of a friend dead at his own hands, a friend to whom I never confessed my true feelings, imprinted in my mind.

Zarkon spat at Takashi and drew a gun, levelling the firearm at his head. He aimed carefully, despite the close range. 

He fired.

“Takashi!” I howled, reaching out to him.

Keith, wake up, a tiny voice called. I ignored it.

I threatened the Galra around me, and they just laughed at my poor attempts to intimidate them. We all knew I was helpless.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop this, Kogane. You can't save anyone, you can't stop us from getting to the other people you love. This is a game to me. As amusing as it has been to watch you fight a hopeless battle, it's beginning to annoy me.”

I froze, mid threat.

As simple as it was, they had struck my worst fear.

First Lance, then my brother, and now whatever the last strand of hope had held on, now my last prayer that I would wake up, the only thing holding me together was taken from my grasping hands.

I fell apart.


	21. nanita nana

Lance POV  
I forced myself out of the bathtub to get dressed as a chill set into the water.

I wonder if Keith managed to fall asleep? He’s been pushing himself a lot over the past few days.

Walking into the bedroom I jumped at a sudden, strangled shout.

“Takashi!”

“Keith?” I tested, knowing he probably couldn't hear me.

“No! Back off!” He cried again.

His voice broke off into a sob, and the sound cracked my heart.

I stood next to him, placing my hand gently on his shoulder.

“Keith, wake up.” 

He continued thrashing in his sleep, slurred words and panicked shouts creeping out from his nightmare.

“Keith!” Shaking his shoulder gently, I managed to wake him up.

His eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright. For just a moment, with the fear in his veins, Keith’s eyes almost looked like shattered glass.

Realizing where he was seemed to do the opposite of what I'd expected, as his dream seemed to bleed into his reality.

“Hey, Keith, look at me.”

His eyes flicked over to me, and he looked so… Broken.

Hopeless.

I remembered how my mamá used to comfort my siblings and me whenever we had nightmares, and how my sister comforts her kids now.

“Is it alright if I sit down?”

The only response I got was a small nod and a broken breath.

Sitting down next to him, I pulled Keith closer so I could wrap an arm around him, letting the other fall to his back, rubbing soft circles between his shoulder blades.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Not now,” he managed through the tears.

“Just tell me if you ever want to talk about,” I told him quietly, laying my cheek on top of his head as he curled in on himself.

“Can-” A small sob broke his sentence and he took a moment to recollect himself. “Can we just stay here? Like this?”

“Of course we can.”

Anything for you.

“A la nanita nana nanita ella nanita ella  
Mi niña tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea,” I sang softly, remembering the old lullaby from my childhood.

“A la nanita nana nanita ella nanita ella  
Mi niña tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea.” Keith seemed to be calming down, so I kept singing.

“Fuentecita que corre clara y sonora  
Ruiseñor que en la selva cantando llora  
Calla mientras la cuna se balansea  
A la nanita nana, nanita ella.” Memories of my mother singing to me, or sometimes my sister singing if mamá was sleeping. I closed my eyes and continued.

“A la nanita nana nanita ella nanita ella  
Mi niña tiene sueno bendito sea, bendito sea.”

Taking another breath, I went through the final verse.

“Fuentecita que corre clara y sonora,   
Ruiseñor que en la selva cantando llora  
Calla mientras la cuna se balansea  
A la nanita nana, nanita ella.”

Keith uncurled just a bit, leaning into me and burying his head into the crook of my neck. His breathing had calmed a bit, but he still seemed shaken.

“Shiro used to sing to me like that,” he commented quietly.

“Yeah? Do you want me to keep singing

“Ok, Keith. I'm here now, do you wanna try to sleep again? We can talk about this is the morning if you want.”

He nodded and I left the room quickly to turn off the bathroom light.

I turned so I was facing him and whispered, “goodnight Keithy.”

In the dim light I could see his head pop out from the ball he had made around around his wrist, “Night, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shorter chapter, and updates are going to slow down since I need to write now, not just copy-paste/edit existing things.


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